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NOAA Requires License For Photos of the Earth
Teancum writes "In an interesting show of the level of regulations private spacecraft designers have to go through, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has demanded that American participants of the Google Lunar X Prize obtain a license if their spacecraft are 'capable of actively or passively sensing the Earth's surface, including
bodies of water, from space by making use of the properties of the electromagnetic waves emitted, reflected, or diffracted by the sensed objects.' What prompted NOAA to ask for this license came from a visit by the XPrize staff to the NOAA offices in Maryland. What is going to happen when 'space tourists' bring their private cameras along for the ride?"
As if RIAA and MPAA weren't enough, now this NOAA: Who's come next, AAA?
That's the Budweiser Moon© now, they paid for the naming rights.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
I can totally understand this, If my Florida was flapping in the breeze I wouldn't want people taking snapshots either.
That would seem to include eyesight. I guess everyone will need to fly blind.
M-O-O-N, that spells Pepsi®!
What are they gonna do, shoot down your satellites? Doubtful. They have NO AA.
God spoke to me.
it's not ridiculous at all.
when you think about it, taking a photo of the earth from space isn't (conceptually) any different from walking into a store a stealing a CD.
Same thing.
He is timeless.
I, for one, never welcomed our road to hell paving overlords.
Failure to follow this advice may result in non-deterministic behavior.
Saying "if other people make money doing X, we're going to pass a law preventing you from doing X for free" never has good intentions.
Of course it does! Outlawing designated drivers forces people to use taxis, which helps the economy. Only allowing only professional movers to take furniture in and out of houses prevents injuries to out-of-shape people. And of course, making every babysitter get registered as a state-certified child care provider would reduce the risk of harm to the children, and would also keep for-profit day cares in business, which means more jobs.
See, nothing but good intentions!
Though to be fair most of those are innovative new ways to drop your pants. The rest are owned by the Chattanooga Bakery for it's chocolate dipped gram cracker and marshmallow snacks.
*whoosh*
Uhm, perhaps there's a bit of humour impairment you need treated? Note the parent was modded "funny." That would be as in absurd. There's no possible way that taking a picture from anywhere let alone from space could be equated with stealing a CD. The silly NOAA act being made fun of is largely to insure that no one takes high-res images of Israel from space. They don't want you to know what REALLY goes on in some of those kibbutzes (and yes, that was humorous in intent).
------ The only greater hazard to your liberty than n politicians is n+1 politicians.
Don't you know that by taking a picture, you're sucking out the soul of the Earth. Besides, this light could've gone off into the universe, or at least the other side of the cabin or into someone's eyes and their brain, but no, you had to suck up this light and put it inside a camera.