Google Maps Closed to Editors After Several High Profile Pranks
Some people just can't be trusted to edit a map.
— -- Google suspended its map editing tool today following what the company called "escalated attacks to spam Google Maps over the past few months."
The final straw: A large-scale prank involving the Android robot urinating on the Apple logo, placed on the outskirts of Rawlpindi, Pakistan.
Pavithra Kanakarajan, who works on Google's Maps team said editing privileges are being cut until the search giant can figure out ways "to add more intelligent mechanisms to prevent such incidents."
The pranks were able to be pulled off because Google relies on auto-approval and user moderation to handle the edits. After the Android prank, Google switched to human moderators, only to see its backlog of edits grow.
"Every edit you make is essentially going to a backlog that is growing very fast," Kanakarajan wrote. "We believe that it is more fair to only say that if we do not have the capacity to review edits at roughly the rate they come in, we have to take a pause."
Previous other hacks reported included one placing Edward Snowden in the White House and fake highway exits, among others.
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