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Google's Satellites Could Soon See Your Face From Space

Posted by Unknown on from the google-face-view dept.

Jason Koebler (3528235) writes Two months ago, after much lobbying by the biggest satellite company in North America, DigitalGlobe, the US government relaxed restrictions to allow for commercially available satellite imagery up to 25 cm resolution—twice as detailed as the previous limit of 50 cm.
The DigitalGlobe's Worldview-3, the first commercial satellite set to capture these high-res images is set to launch this Wednesday. Six months after that, private businesses, including its regular client Google, will be able to get their hands on hyper-detailed photos and videos of the globe.

7 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. but... my face is smaller than 25 cm? by davecotter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    doesn't that mean my entire face would be 1 pixel large?

  2. And with face-recognition... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Using the Street View face-recognition technology, they can blur the face of anybody looking up at the time of capture, for privacy reasons. Hooray!

  3. Our they could use Planes by Flyskippy1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They could get better and better satellites with higher resolutions, and continuously lobby the US government to allow higher resolutions to be released.

    Or they could use planes, and StreetView cars... Like they currently do.

  4. At this rate... by thieh · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Privacy will be a thing of the past in no time. The only matter is when do we reach the point of no return.

    1. Re:At this rate... by bjwest · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What kind of honest lives? We probably can't rule out the possibility that they can, in the future, tape your sex act at home from all the way in space. So in that case we should stop having kids then? That would get rid of most of the human race pretty quick

      Thinking sex between consenting people is dishonest, shameful and/or immoral has led to many of the draconian laws on the books today.

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  5. If you think nobody's head is that big... by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...you obviously haven't been hanging around here for long.

  6. I trust them by penguinoid · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I have complete confidence that companies will follow all laws even for things that are to be placed forever out of the reach of inspectors. Even if they could, they would never just put an artificial restriction on the equipment for when some clueless government inspector wants to do the pre-launch check.

    --
    Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways