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Comment by annnnd | Hacker News Reader

I am as concerned about privacy as next person, but I would have thought that this is similar to what the satellites are already collecting for NSA, CIA and similar (and their counterparts in other countries).

Is flying Cessna planes really the optimal way of obtaining images? Why not drones (if you can't get satellites)? Or is this just MVP with room for optimization?

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NSA, CIA and all their friends exist for the sole reason that they can't spy on Americans. That's why they exist, because the constitution doesn't apply to foreigners. They would be a walking terrorist organisation otherwise.

So your question becomes "why can't the police do what the intelligence services already do?" and the obvious answer is that "because then they stop being police and are instead secret police or Gestapo".

>NSA, CIA and all their friends exist for the sole reason that they can't spy on Americans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.#NSA_mon...

Theres the legal theory and then there is the 100 years worth of experience with intelligence agencies, which is that they are mostly useless and will over time expand their influence and power and dig under the pillars of democracy.

Satellites are in orbit, so can't be used if you want more than a few minutes of continuous surveillance.

Drones have an iffy legal status. Using a piloted light aircraft gets rid of that uncertainty.

There are over 400 satellites in geostationary orbit, so maybe some of those could be used. However, that places them so high that photography might not be practical.

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