A new company is building a new type of satellite whose cameras could, for the first time, do just that. "We are very aware of the privacy implications," Topher Haddad, director of Albedo Space, said in an interview.
The company's website does not mention the people taking the images or privacy issues. Still, reconnaissance experts say regulators should wake up before their spacecraft start taking their first close-ups. "It brings us one step closer to a world where Big Brother watches," an astrophysicist said.