For decades, privacy experts have been wary of snooping from space. They feared satellites powerful enough to zoom in on individuals, capturing close-ups that might differentiate adults from children or suited sunbathers from those in a state of nature.
Now, quite suddenly, analysts say, a startup is building a new class of satellite whose cameras would, for the first time, do just that.
“We’re acutely aware of the privacy implications,” Topher Haddad, head of Albedo Space, the company making the new satellites, said in an interview. His company’s technology will image people but not be able to identify them, he said. Albedo, Mr. Haddad added, was nonetheless taking administrative steps to address a wide range of privacy concerns.
Anyone living in the modern world has grown familiar with diminishing privacy amid a surge security cameras, trackers built into smartphones, facial recognition systems, drones and other forms of digital monitoring. But what makes the overhead surveillance potentially scary, experts say, is its ability to invade areas once seen as intrinsically off limits.
“This is a giant camera in the sky for any government to use at any time without our knowledge,” said Jennifer Lynch, general counsel of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who in 2019 urged civil satellite regulators to address this issue. “We should definitely be worried.”
Based in the Denver area, Albedo Space has 50 employees and has raised roughly $100 million. It plans to launch its first satellite in early 2025, Mr. Haddad said. Ultimately, he foresees a fleet of 24 spacecraft
Investors in Albedo include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the investment firm of Bill Gates. Albedo’s strategic advisory board includes former directors of the C.I.A. and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, an arm of the Pentagon.
The company’s website makes no mention of imaging people, or the privacy issues. Even so, reconnaissance experts say regulators should wake up before its spacecraft start taking their first close-ups.
“It’s a big deal,” said Linda Zall, a former C.I.A. official whose decades-long career involved some of the nation’s most powerful spy satellites. The capabilities will hit home, she predicted, when people realize that things they’re trying to hide in their backyards can now be observed with new clarity. “Privacy is a real issue,” Dr. Zall said.
“It’s taking us one step closer to a Big-Brother-is-watching kind of world,” added Jonathan C. McDowell, a Harvard astrophysicist who publishes a monthly report on civilian and military space developments.
No comments:
Post a Comment