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Satellite firm pauses imagery after revealing Iran's attacks on US bases (arstechnica.com)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Planet Labs, one of the world’s leading commercial satellite imaging companies, said Friday it is placing a hold on releasing imagery of some parts of the Middle East as a regional war enters its second week.

Planet wants to prevent "adversarial actors" from using images for "Battle Damage Assessment" purposes.

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[–] 1 point 5 months ago* (1 child)

The stated reasoning sounds okay in isolation, but:

  1. Why didn't they start the blackout when the conflict began, as opposed to waiting like this?
  2. Why is it just a delay, instead of a real blackout?
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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago

    While I don't have an answer for your first question, there is a really good answer to the second.

    A delay is a perfect solution for eliminating the tactical advantage that its imagery could offer, while still maintaining an eye on the region, not letting war crimes go unnoticed.

    The delay rather than a blackout actually reinforces the idea that this is really about not providing intel to Iran. Three day old troop positions are totally useless, those troops are somewhere else now. A delay is totally sufficient to make their imagery non threatening. But if they were trying to hide the actions of either side, a delay wouldn't be enough, they'd need to hold those images back forever. Meaning, they aren't trying to hide the truth.

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