BJP MP to raise Google map issue in parliament

New Delhi: BJP MP Tarun Vijay on Saturday said he will raise "violations" of country's map policy by Google Maps in parliament and demanded registration of a police case over the complaint of the Survey of India on the issue.

Talking to mediapersons in New Delhi, Vijay said some of the information being collected by Google through activities such as mapathon could be "intelligence asset."

"It is shocking," he said

Vijay said the basic issue was continuous collection of data being gathered without the knowledge of the Indian authorities.

"I am going to raise the issue of India's mapping policy, the relevant laws and the Google's violations in the next sitting of parliament beginning April 22, 2013," Vijay said.

Citing examples of some air bases in north India, he said sensitive information concerning type and number of military aircraft were available on the site.

Vijay, a Rajya Sabha MP of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said Google should disclose how much data it had collected and stored.

He said there was basic constitutional position about mapping and Google was required to follow it.

"Has Google any right to violate when every other agency is following it. Google is disobeying the map policy," he said.

Referring to Google mapathon, which ran from February 12 to March 25, 2013, Vijay said that map information was being collected through people.

"People think Google mapathon is a fun game. In a nutshell, it is intelligence gathering of Indian locations," he said.

He said Google did not comply with the existing mapping policy of India.

"Google collects annotations and points of interest through the process of crowd sourcing, wherein the citizens of the country mark places/objects which they are aware about," he said.

Vijay said Google makes the person who was marking or putting the annotation agree to its own corporate policy which said that the person who was putting the data will be liable for violations.

"Many of us who participate in such process, do not bother to read the 'policy', before clicking the 'I Agree' button," he said.

Vijay, who has twice met Defence Minister AK Antony on the issue, said the Survey of India had lodged a formal complaint with RK Puram police station in Delhi Police March 25, 2013 but no first information report (FIR) has been registered so far.