High-resolution Earth Observation (EO) platforms routinely capture spatial Data capable of identifying individual structures and human activities, creating tension between open-Data mandates and privacy rights. While international agencies align with frameworks like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), mechanisms for embedding privacy into national satellite workflows remain underdeveloped. This paper examines the misalignment between Nigeria’s Data Protection Act (NDPA) 2023 and EO operations, particularly in rapid disaster response. Using statutory analysis and synthesis of geospatial privacy and GeoAI literature, we evaluate risks across upstream, midstream, and downstream segments of Earth Observation. To overcome manual compliance latency, we propose the Data Protection for Earth Observation Data (DP-EO Data) Architecture, a Privacy-by-Design framework that integrates geographic zoning at sensor-tasking, end-to-end encrypted telemetry, and automated GeoAI spatial anonymization with tiered role-based access control. This architecture operationalizes the NDPA 2023 across the EO value chain, transforming legal obligations into technical safeguards for responsible satellite Data use in national contexts. It enables Nigeria to reconcile Data sovereignty with multilateral commitments under the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER) and the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS), ensuring responsible use of satellite Data without compromising spatial personal information. The DP-EO Data Architecture offers a transferable model for African space programs seeking to innovate responsibly within domestic legal frameworks.

References

1.Bennett, M. M., Gleason, C. J., Tellman, B., Alvarez Leon, L. F., Friedrich, H. K., Ovienmhada, U., & Mathews, A. J. (2024). Bringing satellites down to Earth: Six steps to more ethical remote sensing. Global Environmental Change Advances, 2, 100003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecadv.2023.100003

2.Bygrave, L. A. (2021). Data Protection Law in South Africa: A Commentary on POPIA. Oxford University Press. SAR

3.Cannas, E. D., Mandelli, S., Bestagini, P., Tubaro, S., & Delp, E. J. (2023). Deep image prior amplitude image anonymization. Remote Sensing, 15(15), 3750. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15153750

4.Carroll, J. M. (2000). Making use: Scenario-based design of human-computer interactions. MIT Press.

5.Cavoukian, A. (2009). Privacy by design: The 7 foundational principles. Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.

6.Denby, B., & Lucia, B. (2020). Orbital edge computing: Nanosatellite constellations as a new class of computer system. Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems (ASPLOS ’20), 939–954. https://doi.org/10.1145/3373376.3378473

7.Dwork, C., & Roth, A. (2014). The algorithmic foundations of differential privacy. Foundations and Trends in Theoretical Computer Science, 9(3–4), 211–407. https://doi.org/10.1561/0400000042

8.Economic Community of West African States [ECOWAS]. (2003). ECOWAS Policy for Disaster Risk Reduction. ECOWAS Commission.

9.Economic Community of West African States [ECOWAS]. (2024). ECOWAS official statement. Africa Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. https://afrp.undrr.org/publication/ecowas official-statement

10.European Data Protection Board [EDPB]. (2018). Guidelines 2/2018 on the derogations of Article 49 under Regulation 2016/679. EDPB Secretariat.

11.European Parliament and Council of the European Union - GDPR (2016). Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 (General Data Protection Regulation). Official Journal of the European Union, L 119, 1–88.

12.Federal Republic of Nigeria. (2023). Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023. Official Gazette, No. 119, Vol. 110, 1 July 2023.

13.Firefly Research Team. (2025). Spoofing Earth observation satellite Data through radio overshadowing. In Proceedings of the Network and Distributed System Security (NDSS) Symposium. https://www.ndss-symposium.org

14.General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). (2016). Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679

15.Hildebrandt, M. (2015). Smart technologies and the end(s) of law: Novel entanglements of law and technology. Edward Elgar Publishing.

16.Holvoet, N., Chaimatanan, S., & Delahaye, D. (2018). Mission planning for a non-homogeneous Earth observation satellite constellation for disaster response. In 2018 SpaceOps Conference. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2018-2658

17.Information Regulator of South Africa. (2022). Advisory Opinion on the Processing of Personal Information by Municipalities for Housing and Service Delivery Purposes. Case No: IR-AD-2022 001. Pretoria: Information Regulator. https://www.justice.gov.za/inforeg/

18.Iranmanesh, A., & Kamalipour, H. (2023). A configurational morphogenesis of incremental urbanism: A comparative study of the access network transformations in informal settlements. Cities, 140, 104444. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2023.104444

19.Jabareen, Y. (2009). Building a conceptual framework: Philosophy, definitions, and procedure. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 8(4), 49–62. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690900800406

20.James, G., Akinyede, J., & Halilu, S. (2014). The Nigerian space program and its economic development model. New Space, 2(1), 23–29. https://doi.org/10.1089/space.2013.0041

21.Janowicz, K., Gao, S., McKenzie, G., Hu, Y., & Bhaduri, B. (2020). GeoAI: Spatially explicit artificial intelligence techniques for geographic knowledge discovery and beyond. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 34(4), 625–636. https://doi.org/10.1080/13658816.2019.1684500

22.Kenya Data Protection Act, No. 24 of 2019 (Kenya).

23.Kitchin, R. (2022). The ethical, privacy and political challenges of geocoding and spatial big Data. Dialogues in Human Geography, 12(2), 174–192. https://doi.org/10.1177/20438206211055818

24.Kounadi, O., & Resch, B. (2024). Privacy risk in GeoData: A survey. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2402.03612

25.McAmis, R., Sim, M., Bennett, M., & Kohno, T. (2024). Over fences and into yards: Privacy threats and concerns of commercial satellites. Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies, 2024(1), 379–396. https://doi.org/10.56553/popets-2024-0022

26.Nigeria Data Protection Commission [NDPC]. (2025). General application and implementation directive (GAID) 2025. Federal Republic of Nigeria.

28.Nissenbaum, H. (2010). Privacy in context: Technology, policy, and the integrity of social life. Stanford University Press.

29.Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2023 & 2026). Expanding access to satellite Earth observation Data: What it means for privacy, security and trust. OECD Publishing.

30.Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) (South Africa).

31.Rao, J., Gao, S., Mai, G., & Janowicz, K. (2023). Building privacy-preserving and secure geospatial artificial intelligence foundation models (vision paper). Proceedings of the 31st ACM International Conference on Advances in Geographic Information Systems, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1145/3589132.3625611

32.Talemi, N. A., Boone, J., & Afghah, F. (2026). Agentic AI in remote sensing: Foundations, taxonomy, and emerging systems. Proceedings of the IEEE/CVF Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision Workshops, 786–799.

33.United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs [UNOOSA]. (n.d.). UN-SPIDER knowledge portal. Retrieved 2026, from https://un-spider.org [UN-SPIDER].

34.United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (n.d.). Nigeria Regional Support Office. https://un spider.org/network/regional-support-offices/nigeria-regional-support-office

35.World Geospatial Industry Council [WGIC]. (2020). Geospatial information and privacy: Policy perspectives and imperatives for the geospatial industry. with

36.Yang, Z., Yan, X., Chen, G., & Tian, X. (2025). Adaptive differential privacy for satellite image recognition convergence-guaranteed optimization. Electronics, 14(18), 3680. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics14183680

37.Zandbergen, P. A. (2014). Spatial analysis and privacy: An examination of geocoding and location-based services. Geocoding and Location Analysis, 6(1), 37–64.