Curtailing "Oversight"?

Everyone knows that the Pentagon purchased all satellite imagery over Afghanistan during the invasion. Now two broader moves are going to block satellite imagery. The First, is the decision by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) to remove an array of aeronautic and flight data from public access. The second is the announcement that the NGA will withhold imagery of Fallujah.

As of October 1, 2005, NGA will not longer provide public access to its "Flight Information Publications (FLIP), Digital Aeronautical
Flight Information File (DAFIF), and related aeronautical safety of
navigation digital and hardcopy publications from public sale and
distribution" for reasons of national security. In imposing the ban, they will honor existing contracts with other governments and entities (read corporations):

This action is taken to accomplish the following objectives: safeguarding the integrity of Department of Defense (DoD) aeronautical navigation data currently available on the public Internet; preventing unfettered access to air facility data by those intending harm to the United States, its interests or allies; upholding terms of bi-lateral geospatial data-sharing agreements; avoiding competition with commercial interests; and avoiding intellectual property/copyright disputes with foreign agencies that provide host-nation aeronautical data.

General public access to this information through the http://www.nga.mil will be ended. I presume that pilots (commercial and private) utilize this information to make flight plans. I also presume that the data generated at tax payer expense will be partially available through private enterprises. Well that is one way to privatize data. Other parts will be restricted at will under the heading of "security."

That is apparently the case with pulling the imagery from Fallujah. Cryptome, bless their hearts, has made the banned image available at THIS LINK. If you go to the bottom of the link above, you will see Fallujah and below that, links to a number of images of Fallujah during the siege.

These are prime examples of the creeping information blackout that is eating its way through our right to know.

Note: I have recommended Cryptome before as a good source of information, and I do so again. They capture an amazing amount of difficult to access information, as well as items that have a tendency to "disappear."