Satellite surveillance: nowhere is private anymore
An article in MIT Tech Review, “Soon, satellites will be able to watch you everywhere all the time”, reflects the growing concern about the threat to privacy from constantly improving technology that allows for ultra-high resolution satellite photography.
Restrictions, such as limiting resolution to 25 centimeters, which does not affect images for military use, are increasingly difficult to maintain: some Chinese companies offer images to US customers with resolutions of 10 centimeters, while others can provide HD video in real time of up to 90 seconds, or revisit a specific place up to 70 times a day. Satellite surveillance is relatively expensive but technically feasible, and increasingly simple and available to practically anyone, with fewer and fewer limitations.
The satellite network is an increasingly crowded environment. Following Elon Musk’s launch of Starlink, Amazon now wants to put 3,236 satellites into orbit to offer connectivity services, known as Project Kuiper, which has generated concern that along with its network of Ring cameras all over the world, the company intends to watch our every move.
The incentive grows to use satellite networks to obtain information and provides a range of highly valuable activity indicators. We are already surrounded by cameras equipped with facial recognition…
