Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Artist/Astronomer Exhibits Photos Of Spy Satellites

Posted by kdawson on from the move-along-nothing-to-see-here dept.

daemonburrito writes "Trevor Paglen, the photographer and co-author of 'Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA's Rendition Flights' and 'I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have To Be Destroyed By Me,' has an exhibit showing in Berkeley of 189 photos of secret US satellites (exhibit page here). Wired says, 'In taking these photos, Paglen is trying to draw a metaphorical connection between modern government secrecy and the doctrine of the Catholic Church in Galileo's time.'"

7 of 173 comments (clear)

  1. Heathen! by zapakh · · Score: 5, Funny

    Everyone knows that the celestial spy satellites are perfect spheres! This "telescope" is a tool of the devil.

  2. Cool... by ductonius · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's a pretty neat exhibi$ #_(%#^3 NO CARRIER

  3. news? by Kohath · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't understand. What's newsworthy about this? Guy takes photos and displays them. He is not censored. No censorship was alleged.

    He wants to make a statement about the parallel between himself being censored and something from 500 years ago. But he wasn't censored and there's really no parallel.

    And this would be news if something had actually happened. Are we supposed to be pretend outraged at the imagined censorship that didn't happen? How is that different than the usual pretense to outrage that some folks engage in all the time?

    1. Re:news? by Thomas+M+Hughes · · Score: 5, Insightful

      My understanding was the exhibit was not about censorship. It was about looking at things that should not exist, and questioning the reasons why the establishment denies their existence. This can range from the moons of Jupiter or to satellites designed to spy on domestic affairs. His interest is not in the silencing, but in the denial.

  4. Re:Hmmm... by ehiris · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's clear that the CIA is working with Slashdot to cover up secret spy satellites that can penetrate tin foil.

  5. Re:Wait... I'm confused. by lena_10326 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is the US government trying to connect with the catholic church and claim the Earth is flat?
    The Earth is flat. It's space that's curved.

    --
    Camping on quad since 1996.
  6. That was... by CBob · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Pointless. Some genius w/a camera takes pics of satellite tracks. Living in a semi-rural area, I can track eye visible satellites w/a bit of patience. I was hoping for something along the lines of a 16" (or larger) telescope getting pics like are seen often on http://www.spaceweather.com/ they even have a "simple" tracking program. http://www.heavens-above.com/ is a neat tool/toy as well. And if you REALLY wanted to know wtf that codename for that blob of light stood for , hit http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/index.html there's a search function. At one point, there was even one of the UFO "tracking sites" that had some interesting blurry shots of what were prob someone's elint arrays.