From: Kristin Roberts, Reuters
> Deptula cited Google Inc.'s Google Earth, which gives Web users an
> astronaut's view of the earth and allows them to zoom down to street
> level. He said it had provided anyone with a credit card the ability
> to get a picture of any place on earth.
> "It is huge," he said. "It's something that was a closely guarded
> secret not that long ago and now everybody's got access to it."
A bit disingenuous if you ask me.
What was highly secret was the specifications and capabilities of our spy satellites, not so much the products they produce. Of course, the capabilities could be surmised from the products so they were classified as well.
As to the offensive use of aerial photography, one can rent a light plane and pilot and go up with a digital camera and click away. Even most of our national labs permit overflights at relatively low altitudes providing aircraft do not "loiter" over the area.