When you look up at the sky,
remember “they” are watching you. Who are the ubiquitous
“they”? Satellites that orbit Earth. Mankind’s eye in
the sky located thousands of miles above. They eavesdrop on
conversations, monitor nuclear detonations or broadcast Al Jazeera
worldwide.
Satellite
Surveillance
What
is a satellite? Technically any object that orbits the earth. The
moon is the earth’s natural satellite. All satellites consist of
three main parts: a metal frame body known as a bus, a power
source (either solar or rechargeable battery-powered cells) and an
onboard computer controlling the satellite. The computer
also manages the attitude control system (ACS). ACS keeps the
satellite pointed in the right direction.
Location:
Iraq
Imagine
that you’re a soldier in Iraq. You’re equipped with a phone
integrated with GPS (Global Positioning System). GPS can pinpoint
your location.
During
the war on Iraq, the US Army used GPS receivers to coordinate
their movements and find their enemy. Military satellites
also mapped out Iraq’s terrain. Satellite images were made
available to buy. The media used aerial shots of central Baghdad
in programmes and print. But how high do satellites orbit to take
photos?
Circling
the world
Satellites
have three different orbits: Geostationary, asynchronous and
polar. A geostationary satellite stays in the same position while
orbiting. They orbit at altitudes up to 22,223 miles.
Communications, television and weather satellites all use
geostationary orbits. A north – south orbit often indicates a
spy satellite.
Asynchronous
satellites pass overhead at different times of the day.
Navigational satellites for the Global Positioning System (GPS)
use asynchronous orbits. GPS Navstar satellites operate at
altitudes of 6,000 to 12,000 miles.
Polar
satellites pass over Earth’s poles on each revolution. They fly
at a low altitude. Satellites used for mapping and photography
work at polar orbits.
Enemies
of the States
Enemy
of the State was a popular film released in 1998. It starred Will
Smith and Gene Hackman. The film’s plot focused on the US
government’s use of surveillance technology to hide an
assassination. Lawyer Robert Dean (Will Smith) was the unwilling
witness. The government tracked, filmed, wiretapped and bugged
Dean to discredit him. These technologies are now used against any
Enemies of the States.
Wiretapping
phone communications involves using a device to access a
conversation. The device accesses the call at a point of its
physical connection. Eavesdropping techniques on wired and
wireless communications are becoming more sophisticated. Tapping
wireless communications is almost “invisible”. Combining GPS
and wiretapping technology makes eavesdropping and location
tracking simple.
When
GPS catches murderers
In
Washington County, US high courts convicted William Bradley
Jackson of murdering his 9-year-old daughter Valerie in 1999. A GPS receiver, planted in his car, led police to his daughter’s
shallow grave. The trial raised questions about Jackson’s
privacy rights and GPS tracking.
In
America, all mobile phones had to have GPS capabilities by June
30th, 2000. The United States Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) set that date as a deadline. So what are the
safeguards against electronic eavesdropping? Today’s second and
third generation mobile phones do encrypt phone calls. These
protect against amateur eavesdropping. Governments also have
strict regulations regarding the authorisation and use of
wiretapping.
GPS Overview
The
global positioning system is a constellation of 27 Earth-orbiting
satellites. The US military first developed the network before
opening it to everyone else. This satellite network maps out
locations across the globe. GPS finds your location using a
technique called trilateration. Imagine you are somewhere in the
Sahara desert with a GPS receiver. The receiver sends
signals to four satellites in different positions. Each satellite
measures its distance from your positions. They map out a sphere
to do this. The radius of the sphere is their distance from you.
Inside the sphere is your possible location. With this completed,
where the four spheres intersect is your exact location.
The Intelligence Cycle
In
global surveillance, information rotates through an intelligence
cycle. Information goes through the following processes: tasking, collection, exploitation and dissemination. More simply
stated, establishing what you want to know, collecting the
information, determining what you have and informing others about
your results. The intelligence cycle is not just an application of
technology. Organizations apply technology to their subjective
needs. Technology is objective but an organization rarely is.
Tasking
Tasking
is deciding where to point the satellite camera. It’s the first
and most difficult step in the intelligence cycle. In military
surveillance, tasking is observing enemy movements or sites. Tasking identifies the general proximity of sites rather than
their exact location. Tasking focuses on building long lists
of “suspect sites” instead of a hierarchy of definite military
locations. The US satellite tasking of Iran supports this claim.
Bush’s next pit-stop on his “axis of evil” has too many
suspect sites substituting for genuine locations.
Collection
Satellites
photograph the world. High resolution images from 1 to 2 meters
are available publicly. At 1 meter resolution, a satellite 12,000
miles above the earth can watch a man dialing his phone.
Commercial satellite imagery is available from Space
Imaging’s Ikonos satellite and Microsoft’s Terraserver.com
.They sell satellite images for a variety of reasons, from estate
management to homeland security.
Exploitation
Exploiting
is finding out what you know. This means photographic
interpretation of imagery, i.e. correct identification of enemy
headquarters. Photographic interpretation is a highly specialized
task. The craft evolved within the American classified
intelligence community. They are able to grade satellite imagery
according to a National Imagery Interpretability Rating Scale. You
also perform basic photo-interpretation looking out of an
airplane.
In
1998, the USA bombed the Al-Shifa medicine factory in Khartoum,
Sudan. The factory was thought to be producing chemical weapons.
Misjudgments like this represent a failure in the tasking process.
Through exploitation, misidentification is corrected and
information gathered made useful.
Dissemination
Exploited
information is now made available to others. The internet plays a
role by globally distributing images. High resolution
satellite imagery is available online.
Throughout the Iraq war, the BBC and CNN displayed satellite
images of Saddam’s Republican palaces.
News-makers
vs News-shapers
|
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Satellite
imagery has the power to make news |
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|
Satellite imagery has the power to make news instead of just shape
news. The news production process is divided up between
news-makers, such as politicians, and news-shapers, like opinion
leaders and campaigners. News-makers pro-actively make news.
News-shapers reactively shape news made by others.
During
the Cuban Missile Crisis, the US Government released selected
satellite images to make news. In February 2003, Colin Powell set
out Washington’s case for war against Iraq. His
presentation to the United Nations Security Council included spy
satellite photos. They made news.
Satellite
imagery is now accessible commercially. It offers the media and
others the opportunity to make news. Through correct
photo-interpretation, these organizations can introduce new facts
to the public. As the intelligence and media communities each
offer different photo-interpretations, future conflicts will
occur.
Passive
Public vs Active Surveillance
|
|
They
are playing I spy with my satellite as Big Brother goes global |
|
|
Economic and legal barriers stop most people engaging in
cutting-edge surveillance. Costs are coming down. Thirty years
ago, all satellites were government restricted. Now many systems
are commercial. A war between individual privacy and national
security always exists. The public are passive defending their
civil rights of freedom and privacy. Could the War on Terror be to
blame? Privacy is precious only when you realize that it’s gone.
Governments actively monitor communications, when necessary. The
US is currently developing the Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA)
program. Its goal is to revolutionize the ability to detect,
classify and identify foreign terrorists. Satellites will perform
a role in the TIA. Surveillance pervades everyday life in the
West. Most of us may not even realize it. “They” are playing I
spy with my satellite as Big Brother goes global. We are all
participants when, “they”, the space voyeurs, watch us.
Sources:
-
Julie
K.Petersen, Understanding Surveillance Technologies, 1st
Edition, USA, CRC Press LLC, 2001
-
GlobalSecurity.org,
Public Eye
-
Wired
Magazine, Cops Challenged on GPS Use
-
Gary
Brown, How
Satellites Work
-
DARPA
Information Awareness Office, Terrorism
Information Awareness System
-
BBC,
Full text of Powell Speech
-
Will
Knight, Newscientist.com,
US intelligence on Iraq “compelling” but limited
-
Marshall
Brain and Tom Harris, How
GPS Receivers Work
Waheed
Khidr is a UK-based freelance journalist. He writes about
technology, society and media. Comments and suggestions may be forwarded to him
by contacting the editor at ScienceTech@islam-online.net
