Rapid imaging of Earth’s surface is already underway. Small satellites called doves allow for consistent location imaging. These, alongside NASA and commercial satellites, track illegal logging and fishing operations. By 2021, Maxar Technologies, a space technology company, will be able to take snapshots of the same location every 20 minutes. This development has so much potential to do good. I find myself torn between being an enthusiastic remote-sensing scientist and an anthropologist who would never take a photo of anyone, anywhere, without permission.

We need to start conversations now about who and what should be imaged from space — and about how to create ways for Indigenous people or governments to ask for their sacred or sensitive spaces to be respected. For example, Globalxplorer, the cultural heritage organization I founded, is taking its citizen archaeology satellite platform to India next . To date, 94,600 citizen scientists from over 100 countries have examined 17.5 million satellite images of Peru and have located over 19,000 anthropogenic features, 700 of which are major archaeological sites. We already have a list of places the Indian government does not want to be imaged. All it took was an honest conversation to establish the limits of our data sharing. This is about privacy and respect, and we must develop global guidelines and policies .

The United States has the most powerful satellites in the world, but China, Russia and others are not far behind. Just because we have great technology in the United States does not mean we have the authority to decide how to use it ethically, nor will we be safe once other countries have better satellites. Remote-sensing specialists and everyday users of satellite imagery globally should be leading this conversation, which has enormous implications for our right to exist without everyone knowing where we are at every moment.

The global repercussions of our satellite know-how becoming public knowledge should start a bigger discussion now — before we step out our front doors, look up, and wonder whether we should smile for the picture.

Sarah Parcak (@indyfromspace) is the author of “Archaeology From Space: How the Future Shapes Our Past.”

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