Does Apple Maps Jeopardize National Security?
The launch of Apple’s new mapping service in iOS 6 has generated a wave of criticism that shows no sign of abating. On Wednesday, however, came an article from Turkish site Sosyalmedya claiming that Apple was putting the country’s national security at risk by providing highly detailed satellite imagery of a maximum security prison on Imrali island.
The prison plays host to a number of inmates, most notably Abdullah Öcalan, the spiritual leader of a Kurdish separatist organization. The facility is obscured on both Google and Nokia's maps, but Apple’s imagery is crystal clear. Google has used censored images in Earth (and by association, Maps) for over five years now, so why doesn't Apple's Maps application do the same? We took a look at some prominent military sites on each of the companies' mapping solutions to see how the results differed.
