[Zak]

It seems to me like it infringes on the first amendment rights of anyone who wants to make and distribute such imagery, though I imagine a court has found otherwise at some point. Limits on freedom of expression are no small thing from my perspective.

[azernik]

Space is... special. And national security is even more special. Regulating Earth observation is a standard bureaucratized function [1], and checks lots of boxes for getting leniency from the courts

[1] https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/CRSRA/