Rajya Sabha member Tarun Vijay on Thursday urged the Union Home Ministry to stop Google from collecting map data any more, pending a CBI inquiry into the alleged violations in the conduct of its Mapathon-2013. Several sensitive installations were purportedly mapped during the competition.
Mr. Vijay, who initiated a campaign against the alleged violation by the Internet giant, welcomed the CBI inquiry, and demanded that Google be stopped from publishing, either through print or online, any kind of map data not vetted by regulatory agencies.
“I have decided to raise the issue again in Parliament. I have already received wide support from members cutting across party lines,” he said.
In February 2013, Google launched Google Mapathon, a contest which invited people from across the country to mark any untagged locality, building, place or geographic feature.
“In the process, it collected data, the size and extent of which are not yet confirmed. But considering their reach and the popularity of previous years’ contests, a huge amount of data are supposed to have been collected, including data which could be sensitive and may have implications on national security,” he said adding that the regulatory authorities mandate such data to be provided to them for clearance before they can be published.
Following investigations by the Delhi Police on the basis of a complaint lodged by the Surveyor-General of India, the CBI started a preliminary inquiry into the allegations against Google.
