Rumor: Sudan Blocking Downloads Of Google Earth
Last week I wrote about the Google and Holocaust Museum partnering on the Darfur project, a Google Earth add-on/layer about the genocide in Sudan. Since then I’ve been working on a longer story for Wired News and in the course my research I’ve come across reports that the Sudanese government is blocking access to Google Earth. Thus far this is nothing more than a rumor, but I’m interested in seeing if any Compiler readers can help me verify these reports.
The Google Earth team tells me they have been contacted about the issue, but couldn’t give any details beyond that. My suspicion is that the person in Darfur was trying to download the Pro version of Google Earth rather than the regular free version, which might cause problems.
The specific error message they received reportedly read:
This product is not available in your country. Thanks for your interest, but the product that you’re trying to download is not available in your country. (c)2006 Google
It certainly wouldn’t surprise me if Sudan blocked Google Earth since the government continues to deny the atrocities despite high resolution photography freely available to anyone. But to see the error page above it seems like it would require Google to be involved in the blocking of the download and my sources at Google have assured me that they are not.
If there are any Compiler readers in Sudan, particularly the Darfur region, or if anyone knows someone in that area please try to verify this for Wired. Is this direct link blocked: http://dl.google.com/earth/client/branded/GoogleEarthWin_EARV.exe. Or for mac: http://dl.google.com/earth/client/current/GoogleEarthMac.dmg?
I’ll be sure to update this post when I have more information.
