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Someone makes this exact same comment every time there is a privacy story - not realising there is a very big gap between speculating on what a governments capa

Someone makes this exact same comment every time there is a privacy story - not realising there is a very big gap between speculating on what a governments capability is and having it confirmed Sure - people in privacy circles may suspect this and sneer at the general public for thinking it is news, but it is a big deal to have it confirmed, to raise awareness of it and actually do something about it

Zarath 7y ago
I think the Trump tweet from the other day confirms that this speculation is not at all unfounded. I think 20cm resolution from satellite images is even better than most people speculated.
- feanaro 7y ago
  Which tweet?
  - antonvs 7y ago
    He tweeted a picture allegedly from a classified spy satellite: https://www.npr.org/2019/09/02/756673481/amateurs-identify-u-s-spy-satellite-behind-president-trumps-tweet https://www.npr.org/2019/09/02/756673481/amateurs-identify-u...
- makomk 7y ago
  From what I can tell that image was pretty much in line with what everyone watching the US spy satellite program expected and wasn't hugely far off what's commercially available now. For instance, this was the first article I found when looking for information about the resolution of commercial satellite images (up to 30cm apparently), and it puts Keyhole spy satellites in the 7-10cm resolution ballpark: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/04/21/heres-why-the-resolution-of-satellite-images-never-seems-to-improve/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/04/21/h... The significance of that release was overblown because it helped support a narrative about Trump damaging national security that the media and people on social media liked. In reality it doesn't seem to have revealed anything about the US satellite imaging capabilities that wasn't already known.
  - vageli 7y ago
    I'm surprised this wasn't interpreted by the media as a "flex" of the power of the US intelligence apparatus, frankly.

Zarath 7y ago

I think the Trump tweet from the other day confirms that this speculation is not at all unfounded. I think 20cm resolution from satellite images is even better than most people speculated.

feanaro 7y ago
Which tweet?
- antonvs 7y ago
  He tweeted a picture allegedly from a classified spy satellite: https://www.npr.org/2019/09/02/756673481/amateurs-identify-u-s-spy-satellite-behind-president-trumps-tweet https://www.npr.org/2019/09/02/756673481/amateurs-identify-u...
makomk 7y ago
From what I can tell that image was pretty much in line with what everyone watching the US spy satellite program expected and wasn't hugely far off what's commercially available now. For instance, this was the first article I found when looking for information about the resolution of commercial satellite images (up to 30cm apparently), and it puts Keyhole spy satellites in the 7-10cm resolution ballpark: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/04/21/heres-why-the-resolution-of-satellite-images-never-seems-to-improve/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/04/21/h... The significance of that release was overblown because it helped support a narrative about Trump damaging national security that the media and people on social media liked. In reality it doesn't seem to have revealed anything about the US satellite imaging capabilities that wasn't already known.
- vageli 7y ago
  I'm surprised this wasn't interpreted by the media as a "flex" of the power of the US intelligence apparatus, frankly.