Finding the Balance: Optimum Regulatory Framework for Space Data in the Information Era

The past decade has been witness to the vast technological progress made in remote sensing programmatics, be it within GMES or other earth observation or environment-related RS projects. In keeping with this progress, space-related information has assumed a key role in the daily organisation of civil society, with direct implications for efficient and secure management of communities themselves. Civil and civic service infrastructures are partly operated and coordinated at all levels, be it local, regional, national or international, through
the very existence of remote sensing capabilities. From the control of utilities management, traffic management, urban infrastructure planning, crop or animal control through to logistics in times of civil disasters or crises, all types of information accessible by RS carry a high requirement of exactitude, and more. Authenticity and integrity, flanked by privacy become the key control mechanisms in accessing and verifying data, space data being no exception.
Information and data may be used but also misused for activities that transcend the internationally recognised purposes of remote sensing. The control or security of data for civil society is as important as the data delivered by remote sensing itself. Much of space data is nowadays not gathered by the public hand. The transition in space interests from purely state to commercial actors has lead to the growth of multiple data providers that process downstream space data, distributing thereafter to data processors or 'value adders'.
Paradoxically, there is little control over data provision and distribution. When it comes to data processing, there is next to no regulation at all. With the transition of society into a network of highly interconnected communities, space data, its ownership, alongside its provenance and originality, assumes an equally great importance in its reliability.
Information, tobe useful and not counterproductive or even subversive, must emanate from accredited, reliable sources.
This paper examines the international and national legal rules behind space data collection and use. lt enquires whether there is a case for greater control and /or regulation of data collectors and processors themselves. The growth of private satellite companies is leading to an increased number of market players bringing data down to earth. What thereafter happens to such data remains an important issue. Authenticity of data and information are issues equally
important to ensuring a balanced freedom of information itself.
The potential for remote sensing data markets is vast. This paper off ers some reflection on whether the information society requires greater or indeed less control over how space data is operated, managed and funded.
lt examines the scope of current information rules that apply, at least by analogy, and argues that the regulatory debate must take into account ongoing developments in the availability of technology, alongside society's perception of the relevance of information services in future generations.