Google Maps

Google maps is great. I can get directions of how to travel from place to place and I could see my house in great detail from above and see the front of the house on 'street view'. However it does cross my mind that the 'Big Brother' George Orwell described in his book, 1984, has happened by stealth without us knowing or asking for it. This type of technology is not always benign, as the article below shows:

German police investigate serial rabbit killings - 9 July 2008

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2008. All rights reserved

Some 40 rabbits have been beheaded and drained of blood in northern Germany, prompting a police inquiry

Fear is driving rabbit owners in Germany to lock up their pets at night after a spate of brutal bunny slayings in which pets have been beheaded and drained of blood.

More than 40 rabbits have been killed in the country's Ruhr district since late last summer, prompting police in the Dortmund area to set up a special task force to find the culprit.

There has been speculation that satanists could be responsible because many of the way the rabbits have been killed.

Since April, five officers in the small town of Witten have been investigating the case, according to Spiegel Online.

The task force is looking into the possibility that the rabbits were being targeted using the online mapping programme Google Earth.

The officers have interviewed more than 300 people but have so far found nothing, the website reported.

Initially there were only a few isolated killings, but this spring the number of incidents picked up with four fatal attacks in May.

Animal rights groups in the region have put up a reward of €2,500 (£2,000) for information leading to the arrest of the killer.