Google criticized over New Orleans imagery update

Google probably thought they were doing something good when they updated the imagery on Google Earth for New Orleans with that from a time before Hurricaine Katrina.  Turns out, the residents are angerd by the recent changes, and have formulated conspiracy theories involving a deal between the local government of New Orleans and Google to help promote tourism.

Ironically, the people in New Orleans have been some of the biggest fans of Google Earth as it helped save lives during and after the disaster. And, up until the recent update, residents used the pictures to illustrate damage to insurance adjusters, and to plan reconstruction efforts. Some of the conspiracies are that the local government itself requested the change to try and encourage tourism to come back to New Orleans.

I personally doubt there are any conspiricies at work here -- but I guess you can never really know.