Evidence from Earth Observation Satellites: Emerging Legal Issues

Satellite technologies are rapidly improving, offering increased opportunities for monitoring laws, and using images as evidence in court. Evidence from Earth Observation Satellites analyses whether data from satellite technologies can be a legally reliable, effective evidential tool in contemporary legal systems. This unique interdisciplinary volume brings together leading experts from academia, government, international institutions, industry and judiciary to consider many emerging issues surrounding the use of these technologies in legal strategies. Issues examined include the opportunities arising from technological developments, existing regulatory applications and operational experiences, and admissibility in courts and tools for ensuring the integrity of evidence. It also examines privacy impacts under existing legislation and provides a new conceptual framework for debating the acceptability of such surveillance methods.

Acknowledgements; Contributors' Biographies; List of Abbreviations; List of Figures and Tables; Foreword Tanja Masson-Zwaan; Introduction Ray Purdy and Denise Leung; Part One: The Scientific, Technological and Policy Context 1. Technical Introduction to Satellite EO Shaida Johnston; 2. Science, Policy and Evidence in EO Ray Harris; Part Two: The Use of EO Data at National Level 3. The Use of Satellite Imagery in Environmental Crimes Prosecutions in The United States: A Developing Area Kris Dighe, Todd Mikolop, Raymond W. Mushal and David O'Connell; 4. The Use of EO Data as Evidence in the Courts of Singapore Gerardine Goh Escolar; 5. Ten Years of Using Earth Observation Data in Support of Queensland's Vegetation Management Framework Bruce Goulevitch; 6. EO in the European Union: Legal Considerations Sa'id Mosteshar; 7. Satellite Data as Evidence in the Courts of Taiwan Dennis Tsai; Part Three: The Use of EO Data at International Level 8. Satellite Evidence in International Institutions Maureen Williams; 9. The Use of EO Technologies in Court by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Eya David Macauley; Part Four: Privacy and Copyright Impacts 10. Outer Space Law Principles and Privacy Frans Von Der Dunk; 11. Privacy and EO: An Overview of Legal Issues George Cho; 12. The Impact of Copyright Protection and Public Sector Information Regulations on the Availability of Remote Sensing Data Catherine Doldirina; Part Five: EO Data in the Courtroom: Judicial Perspectives 13. The Use of Remote Sensing Evidence at Trial in he United States - One State Court Judge's Observations Merideth Wright; 14. Satellite Images as Evidence for Environmental Crime in Europe: A Judge's Perspective Carole M. Billiet; Part Six: Trust in and Transparency of EO Data 15. Authentication of Images Alan Shipman; 16. Introducing Digital Signatures and Time-Stamps in the EO Data Processing Chain Willibald Croi, Frederic Foeteler and Harold Linke; Pulling the Threads Together and Moving Forward Ray Purdy; Selected Bibliography; Index.