Ok I was coming to say "spy satellites at 40,000 km up - I doubt they can see anything. And if the linked article is correct the Chinese satellites up there have a resolution of 50m - good luck finding a crisp packet.
But the new generation "might" have a resolution of 1m. which is insane.
Then again, good luck knowing which square meter of the 1/3 of the earths surface you can see, has the crisp packet in.
I still think there will be a place for good old bribery corruption and sex spy techniques for a while yet.
Recent Chinese optical satellites are thought to have 10cm resolution. All these are low earth orbit. Depends on cloud cover, atmospheric turbulence and look angle.
Still impractical to get sound vibrations from that. But a drone with a laser would work for windows. Think listening in on a conversation in a car.
But the new generation "might" have a resolution of 1m. which is insane.
Then again, good luck knowing which square meter of the 1/3 of the earths surface you can see, has the crisp packet in.
I still think there will be a place for good old bribery corruption and sex spy techniques for a while yet.