ASM
Should We Ban Cartographers from Travelling?
The International Middle East Media Centre reports that 60-year old Palestinian geographer and cartographer Khalil Tufakji, who has spent years researching Israeli settlements constructed on Palestinian land, was ordered to appear at an Israeli police station last week, where he was told by a plainclothes officer that he cannot travel.
The cartographer was cited as a security risk. The knowledge he gathered while map making provided him with a unique perspective on the region.
What are the limitations of knowledge and how do cases like this relate to infringing upon an individual's rights and freedom? Would there be limitations for members of the press who, for example, documented or made maps of an area? Is recorded global positioning (GPS) information considered a map - given these technologies store data useful for map creation.
What makes this case interesting is the fact that Tufakji would have acquired (probably) information related to the map making that would have placed any data within a unique context, taking into cultural and other localised details related to it's location.
Satellite images have been cited as security risks from time to time, yet, many of us know that these images are often 'dumbed down' with their resolution limited or they are often taken days if not weeks or months ago - sometimes years.
It would seem that maps alone would constitute only partial risk and that contextual knowledge would possibly increase the security risk. However, anyone driving a car likely also carry's a map in the vehicle - should all driver's be deemed security risks? Clearly intent to cause harm would seem a necessary first step worth consideration, and under that policy we would be pulling over every car driver on the road to ascertain why they have a map in the car...
