Iran Question: Satellites For TV Coverage (outlet, phone, monitor, cameras)

[LauraC]

Please excuse this amaturish question. Why are we relying on images from the Iranian protestors cell phones/cameras which is a dangerous activity for them? Can't we monitor the action in the street from satellites? I thought we have the capability to zero in (get pretty good images) at that level.

I'm not talking about using the footage for anything except media reporting. Are they just still images? Is it a time factor?

[eskercurve]

Probably the government is monitoring the situation and gathering SIGINT and capturing images on the ground. Relying on output from the cellphones and cameras of the protesters is also something that they decided to risk and it would be more of a shame if we didn't pay attention.

Other than that, foreign press have been restricted to only their offices / residences and official gatherings, so freedom of press is non-existent there.

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by eskercurve

Probably the government is monitoring the situation and gathering SIGINT and capturing images on the ground. Relying on output from the cellphones and cameras of the protesters is also something that they decided to risk and it would be more of a shame if we didn't pay attention.

Other than that, foreign press have been restricted to only their offices / residences and official gatherings, so freedom of press is non-existent there.

So we do have the capability to do it via satellite?

[Bo]

It's probably happening, but the public isn't likely to ever know about it. Only the government would have access to that kind of satellite. The government wouldn't want the bad guys in other countries to know the capabilities of those satellites and the bad guys in Iran to know that they are being watched with them. That's why those images will not be shared with the media. Since most media outlets have been kicked out of the country, all that the media has to rely on is cell phone camera videos.

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by Bowie

It's probably happening, but the public isn't likely to ever know about it. Only the government would have access to that kind of satellite. The government wouldn't want the bad guys in other countries to know the capabilities of those satellites and the bad guys in Iran to know that they are being watched with them. That's why those images will not be shared with the media. Since most media outlets have been kicked out of the country, all that the media has to rely on is cell phone camera videos.

Okay, thanks.