Not ready for its close-up

Why did Google airbrush its post-Katrina satellite maps?

From CNN.com

The House Committee on Science and Technology's subcommittee on investigations and oversight on Friday asked Google Inc. Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt to explain why his company is using the outdated imagery.

The subcommittee cited an Associated Press report on the images.

"Google's use of old imagery appears to be doing the victims of Hurricane Katrina a great injustice by airbrushing history," subcommittee chairman Brad Miller, D-North Carolina, wrote in a letter to Schmidt.

Swapping the post-Katrina images and the ruin they revealed for others showing an idyllic city dumbfounded many locals and even sparked suspicions that the company and civic leaders were conspiring to portray the area's recovery progressing better than it really is.

Andrew Kovacs, a Google spokesman, said the company had received the letter but Schmidt had no immediate response.

Here's what Google Maps says New Orleans riverfront looks like today:





This isn't the first time Google's been accused of questionable or unethical Web practices. It's disappointing that a company I usually regard as a modern Internet pioneer can and is making questionable choices. Whether this choice is intentional is a question that needs to be answered.

Thoughts?