Last week, Geosemble, a geospatial data integration company launched a new lead generation service that uses a satellite program (similar to Google Earth) to generate highly targeted sales leads. Here’s how it works: the satellite takes its images and identifies houses with swimming pools, driveways and roofs in need of repair, empty backyards, etc.  The data is cross-referenced with city parcel data to find name, address, and phone number information that corresponds with the property, and that information is then sold to manufacturers and service providers for those items: swimming pool maintenance,  lawn furniture manufacturers, home improvement contractors; anyone that would be interested enough in that information to pay for it. The development of the technology was funded in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation– part of the U.S. Federal Government….

So now this gets me thinking…although the concept is arguably genius, is it ethical to sell information gathered from pictures the customer doesn’t even know are being taken? To me, it evokes an image of a private investigator, taking unauthorized photos from behind a bush and reporting back to his client with juicy details of the subject’s life.

When it comes to satellite-generated sales leads, is it an invasion of privacy or just public information?