ABSTRACT
Technical progress has been massive since the early days of remote sensing, but lawyers were early interested in the regulation of the new facility. However, when remote sensing from space came on the scene its legal problems were not novel. Remote sensing is the gathering of data from a distance by a variety of means. Although the development of space systems has greatly increased remote sensing activity, its roots and legal regulation go far back. Remote sensing from space at first depended on the use of orthodox film, canisters of film of Earth objects being ejected from satellites and recovered for processing. Remote sensing from the air is a matter for both international law and the rules of the relevant municipal legal system. International law has been concerned with such questions for over one hundred years.
