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Satellite Pics Going Dark?
isdale writes "Defense Tech reports the U.S. Gov't. is proposing to exempt satellite images from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The proposed exemption has already passed the Senate and awaits House/Senate conference committee this month. Not only does the exemption apply to Gov't. satellite images, but also any commercial satellite images the gov't buys and 'any... other product that is derived from such data.' That would include maps, reports, news footage, etc. This would heavily impact news gathering and probably the income of commercial satellite operators - who would only be able to sell to the U.S. Govt. And how big is the deficit already?" peter303 writes with a more optimistic story in USA Today " about building and launching a satellite for as little as $65K," as long as you can squeeze it into a 4 inch-cube.
Time to burn some Karma...
So, let me get this straight: Terrorists might be able to use satellite imagery to plan an armed assault on some target in the US. The response is to limit 1st amendment rights, but to leave 2nd amendment rights unchanged.
I guess it just depends on who's slippin' you the bills.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
War on Terror
War on Poverty
War on Internet Piracy
What exactly does 'only during wartime' mean these days?
Dyolf Knip
It only seems to apply to images the government buys.
Since the Freedom of Information Act only applies to the government, one would think.
If a company puts up a satellite that takes pictures and they dont sell the images to the govt, how would it affect them? I dont think it would.
It wouldn't. In fact, such would be unconstitutional prior restraint, which the Freedom of Information Act has no power to effect, as per above.
This is only about what information a citizen has a right to obtain directly from the government, not censorship of what information he might obtain from some other source.
KFG
KFG
Jesus. Some /.'ers just love to smash anything the government does.
Implying that this is going to destroy the domestic satellite market? You're an idiot. Seriously.
Lets look at this. Government wants to protect data that protects its soldiers and 'operations'. Solution? They go to satellite corps and say "We're going to make you an offer you can't refuse." And they *OVERPAY* them to not distribute or sometimes even take photos.
That means the domestic satellite imagery market, when confronted by the government, RAKES IN THE MONEY.
When the government isn't doing this, they're back to on their own and competing.
The government has been doing this for *DECADES*. And you know what? American companies still have satellites taking photos! LIKE OMG. It's freaking amazing how when a company gets paid insane margins to do something that they manage to survive.
The only thing about this story anyone has any right to bitch about is: the images the government buys can't be made public, ever. That's a serious concern and killer of our right and power to audit our government.
BTW, you can bet your sweetass we do these same deals with foreign companies.
Blessed be he who reads this post, Cursed be he who tells my boss.
I read the text of the bill (linked from the article), and I don't see anything in there about about banning privately owned satellites from selling their images to whomever they want. All this bill says is that the government does not have to release images that it has to the public. So no this will have zero effect on the private market of satellite imagery whatsover, unless every satalite owner decides out of their own free will to sign an exclusive agreement with the government. I don't know where the submitter or article got that from.
The important questions are how this affects our rights, whether it will improve security, and which outweighs the other. I'm still thinking about that.
Government wants to protect data
It's always for our protection.
That means the domestic satellite imagery market, when confronted by the government, RAKES IN THE MONEY
Great. Another taxpayer funded pyramid scheme. Another way for you and I to subsidize some businessman that we've never met who happens to have a lobbying buddy in Washington.
The government has been doing this for *DECADES*
And not just in the satellite industry. My pocketbook is pleading for this crap to stop.
The only thing about this story anyone has any right to bitch about is:
Lobbying groups get Congress to steal our tax money, again, as usual?
+++ATHZ 99:5:80
So I can be secretly held (shadow detainees)
in a secret facility (hide and seek from Red Cross)
awaiting my secret trial (military courts for civilian American and foreign nationals)
for breaking a secret law (recent slashdot)
for looking at a secret map (how do we know which ones are OK?)
derived from secret satellite data (that was formerly readily available).
Yes I suppose us Slashdoters are paranoid. If freedom is relative as the Chinese government once professed, maybe we are making the rest of the world a free and democratic society by moving the often referenced "America as a model for a free society" to a police state of Orwellian proportions. Kind of a perverse way of liberating the world isn't it?
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.