You have just taken a job at a consortium of television news organizations from around the world (including CNN, the BBC, and Gosteleradio) that has decided to launch its own video reconnaissance satellite (using a bargain-priced Russian booster rocket ) to obtain real time video shot from space. The member news organizations have decided to take this bold step to avoid some of the problems they have faced in the past such as in the Gulf War (press control by the military), the student revolts in China (lack of access), and the Yugoslavian civil war (danger to reporters and camera crews).

The satellite will use the latest adaptive optics technology and will have a resolution of inches. (Current civilian satellites have resolutions ranging from 3 to 10 meters). This is sufficient resolution to identify actual faces from orbit. The governments of the United States and China have expressed their concern that such a private "spy-in-the sky" would compromise national security. On the other hand, the government of a small African nation welcomes the venture, but has announced that it claims "ownership" rights in any video footage taken of its territory and will seek an "appropriate royalty". At least one major government has announced that it believes that space reconnaissance should be strictly limited to governments and that there should be no independent civilian access. The satellite data downlink antenna and main computers will be located in a cooperative island nation in the Pacific. The information will then be linked to the rest of the world through the internet.

You have been asked to develop a framework to help identify the various issues and considerations that might be involved.