Ray Purdy has received funding in this area from the Economic and Social Research Council, Arts and Humanities Research Council, European Commission,

Ruling on sharper satellite images poses a privacy problem we can no longer ignore

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2021-10-24 03:30:05

Ray Purdy has received funding in this area from the Economic and Social Research Council, Arts and Humanities Research Council, European Commission, European Space Agency and the UK Space Agency.

The US government has lifted restrictions on the use of high-quality satellite images in a move that will be welcomed by industry but could have serious privacy implications for the man or woman on the street.

The sale of high-quality satellite images has for a long time been dictated by an informal agreement between France and the US. Until now, companies weren’t allowed to make use of images with features smaller than 50cm. That has meant that details that could make people personally identifiable were hard to come by in services like Google Earth.

Digital Globe, the world’s largest satellite company, has lobbied hard for this policy shift so that it could compete with rival satellites being planned by Indian and Chinese firms. Under the ruling, it will now be able to sell images that show features as small as 31cm. While the ruling covers the US, European governments will undoubtedly now face stronger calls to lower their standards to allow the sale of higher-quality imagery.