How U.S. satellite rules are different only for Israel : NPR

originalucifer , 8 months ago

duh. its all funded by the u.s., is top of the line u.s. equipment of course they dont want anyone snoopin on the 5x'th state

autotldr Bot , 8 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

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It’s a unique situation: For years, federal law has limited the quality of commercial satellite imagery U.S. companies can sell — if the images depict Israel and Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories such as Gaza.

“This restriction doesn’t even apply to the U.S.” homeland and territories, satellite imagery analyst Matt Korda of the Federation of American Scientists told NPR.

Things finally changed three years ago, when the U.S. acknowledged that, with at least a dozen companies in eight countries offering imagery far superior to 2-meter resolution, the commercial satellite sector had surpassed the U.S.'s ability to control it.

When asked how Planet handles distributing images of a war zone, a company spokesperson sent a statement sent to NPR saying, “To reduce the potential for misuse and abuse, we decided to apply additional review for SkySat imagery over the conflict region.”

But high-fidelity satellite photos are now a regular part of the news diet for millions of people, bringing before-and-after views of everything from natural disasters to genocidal violence from around the world.

Last month, Planet told its investors that two sectors — “defense and intelligence” and “civil government” — were the company’s two most lucrative areas for million-dollar-plus sales of annual contracts.

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