I agree the sense of “Global Community” is about to change significantly with UrtheCast; however, time will tell whether for better or worse.
The amount of accessible information has grown dramatically over the past 15 years, and society is still adapting. Privacy issues loom large as data hoarders Google and Facebook face increasing backlash, and it is just a matter of time before legislation catches up. Google has been in trouble for mapping military bases before, and no doubt an in-depth live stream will face similar issues. This begs the question, why does the public need access to sensitive information? If you and I can access it so easily, cannot terrorists and bad men as well? How can we prevent data from being sold into the wrong hands? Nonetheless, some data will be extremely useful for educational purposes. Also, globalization has turned out to be very beneficial so far.
Why does all this matter? Like most tech startups, significant risks are inherent in UrtheCast’s business model, and in my opinion UrtheCast should be wary of society’s increasing privacy concerns because it is a big threat to their business. As you say, UrtheCast’s success will be a great point of interest.
In response to: Fergus Arnold: UrtheCast: Re-Defining Globalization
Articles:
http://www.dailytech.com/Google+Banned+from+Taking+Images+of+Military+Bases/article11001.htm
Image:
Conte, Vinnie. “Information Globe.” Drawing. My.opera.com 17 Jan. 2010. 12 Nov. 2012
<http://my.opera.com/vinniecfp/blog/2010/01/17/i-dont-mind>.