Thread: Drones

OGDEN — Hobby shop owner Jonathan McBride presses several buttons on a joystick as a six-propeller drone travels about 40 mph overhead, ruffling the hair of several curious law enforcement officials at the Weber County Fairgrounds.
Local law enforcement agencies gathered around a drone and surveillance equipment demonstration Thursday, considering the ramifications of using the latest technology to fight crime.
“It’s a bit like the gun issue,” said Troy May, CEO of Digital Defense Surveillance, an Ogden-based surveillance equipment company that conducted the demonstration. “If these drones get in the wrong hands, with someone who doesn’t have the right intentions, they can be harmful.”
Questions as to where the privacy line is drawn must arise, May said.
"Yes, the drones could be used to search for marijuana very easily," he said. "If there's a criminal running through people's yards, at what point is the public going to think it's an invasion of privacy? Looking in people's windows is where I would draw the line, and it becomes invasion of privacy."
May said he is pushing to get drones in the hands of law enforcement. Police officials agree, noting that they would be sure to use the drones within legal and constitutional parameters.
“People are always concerned about government intrusion, and that’s normal,” said Weber County Sheriff Terry Thompson. “With drones, we would have policy governing them, dictating how we would use them and how we would store information used with them, because we have no intention of violating any constitutional limitations.”

This is a small time hobby shop owner trying to promote drones. Good for business. Think when the big timers get in on it....

Obviously, drones can be a very good tool for very good purposes, from security to chasing bad guys.

Obviously, drones can be a used for very bad purposes, from, well, security gone wild to chasing good guys who are the newly labeled bad guys de jour (ever read Farenheit 451).

Do we--Western Civilization in general but the USA in particular--have what it takes to put the laws in place to protect ourselves from the protectors? From what I've seen the past 12 years, from Conservative Bush to liberal-ish Obama, I'm worried.

Can't wait for "drone porn"

The pictures in the article look bigger than battery powered, but they don't look very silent either. Could cut something coming down.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865579050/Drones-in-Utah-An-invasion-of-privacy-or-a-protection-against-crime.html?pg=all

Anyway, flight time seems like a small technological hurdle to overcome, and it's not the hobbiest I'm worried about.

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Some communities throughout the States & Europe might have to get used to the fact drones are up there watching your every move. Not so much different than say the UK & London specifically with all the cameras about.

Folks in these communities will applaud and fully support. Gov has gotta keep us safe from the evils of the world. Total loss of privacy and personal liberty is a small price to pay.

Originally Posted by Norton

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Some communities throughout the States & Europe might have to get used to the fact drones are up there watching your every move. Not so much different than say the UK & London specifically with all the cameras about.

Folks in these communities will applaud and fully support. Gov has gotta keep us safe from the evils of the world. Total loss of privacy and personal liberty is a small price to pay.

Small price to pay for what?

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Small price to pay for what?

For keeping us safe, don't ya know.

A Hexacopter demo.



Fun to watch

Just out. Worth a watch.

Originally Posted by MrG

This is a small time hobby shop owner trying to promote drones. Good for business. Think when the big timers get in on it....

Obviously, drones can be a very good tool for very good purposes, from security to chasing bad guys.

Obviously, drones can be a used for very bad purposes, from, well, security gone wild to chasing good guys who are the newly labeled bad guys de jour (ever read Farenheit 451).

Do we--Western Civilization in general but the USA in particular--have what it takes to put the laws in place to protect ourselves from the protectors? From what I've seen the past 12 years, from Conservative Bush to liberal-ish Obama, I'm worried.

This is a small time hobby shop owner trying to promote drones. Good for business. Think when the big timers get in on it....

That's smart. Shit, I'd love to own one.

(ever read Farenheit 451).

Yes, it was about literature being prohibited.

Obviously, drones can be a used for very bad purposes, from, well, security gone wild to chasing good guys who are the newly labeled bad guys

You could substitute a couple of words and that would read like something Einstein said about nuclear power.

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

t the States & Europe might have to get used to the fact drones are up there watching your every move.
...just be careful when around somebody with a pair of those Google glasses.

How dramatic! Your every move. Been watching Fox News all your life? Every move. Can they catch me wanking?

The police already use choppers to watch what is going on, using drones just seems like a more economical way to do the same thing.

Yeah, the evil government. No matter there are more choppers of private companies in the air at any moment, say for media outlets, but this has nothing to do with monitoring, privacy, freedom.

And when you find one of these perched in your office...?
The question is, what are the rules for this brave new world.

Time to get the Drone out.

By some government estimates, as many as 30,000 drones could be part of intelligence gathering and law enforcement here in the US within the next 10 years. Operated by agencies down to the local level, this would be in addition to the 110 current and planned drone activity sites run by the military services in 39 states, reported this week by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), a nongovernment research project.

The presence of drones in the US was brought home Wednesday night when some people thought they saw a UFO along the Capitol Beltway in Washington. In fact, it was a disc-shaped X-47B UCAV (Unmanned Combat Air System) being hauled from Edwards Air Force Base in California to Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland for testing.

Civil libertarians warn that “unmanned aircraft carrying cameras raise the prospect of a significant new avenue for the sur­veillance of American life,” as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) put it in a report last December.
“The technology is quickly becoming cheaper and more powerful, interest in deploying drones among police departments is increasing, and our privacy laws are not strong enough to ensure that the new technology will be used responsibly and consistently with democratic values,” reported the ACLU. “In short, all the pieces appear to be lining up for the eventual introduction of routine aerial sur­veillance in American life – a development that would profoundly change the character of public life in the United States.”
Steven Aftergood, who directs the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, highlights one potentially controversial part of US Air Force policy regarding military drones flown over the US.
“Air Force Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) operations, exercise and training missions will not conduct nonconsensual surveillance on specifically identified US persons, unless expressly approved by the Secretary of Defense, consistent with US law and regulations,” according to an instruction on oversight of Air Force intelligence.
At the same time, the instruction states, “Collected imagery may incidentally include US persons or private property without consent.”

Americans have mixed feelings about pilotless drones flown over the US, according to a new Monmouth University Poll.
A large majority (80 percent) supports the idea of using drones to help with search and rescue missions; a substantial majority also supports using drones to track down runaway criminals (67 percent) and control illegal immigration along US borders (64 percent).
But despite widespread support for certain domestic applications of drone technology, privacy issues are an obvious concern, the poll finds. For example, just 23 percent support using drones for such routine police activity as issuing speeding tickets while two-thirds oppose the idea.
“Specifically, 42 percent of Americans would be very concerned and 22 percent would be somewhat concerned about their own privacy if US law enforcement started using unmanned drones with high tech surveillance cameras," the poll report states.
That’s the increasing attitude on Capitol Hill as well.
“I do not want a drone monitoring where I go, what I do and for how long I do whatever it is that I'm doing,” US Sen. Rand Paul (R) of Kentucky wrote on CNN’s website this week. “I do not want a nanny state watching over my every move. We should not be treated like criminals or terrorists while we are simply conducting our everyday lives. We should not have our rights infringed upon by unwarranted police-state tactics.”
Legislation introduced by Senator Paul – the “Preserving Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act of 2012” – would force police officials to obtain a warrant before using domestic drones.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0616/Drones-over-America.-Are-they-spying-on-you

I can't tell you how badly I feel being in bed with Rand Paul on this one, but there it is. The convergence of so-called liberal and conservative values are growing, I think, and this is a good example.

Roughly 64% of the American population are concerned about the use of drones in the country, and I bet most believe there is a meaninigful difference between drones and helicopters. 24 hour surveilance of any of us by some scrub faced Commander Joystick is not my idea of freedom and security, but it's clearly where we're heading.

Originally Posted by Camel Toe

How dramatic! Your every move. Been watching Fox News all your life? Every move. Can they catch me wanking?

I don't watch Faux News.

Yes, they can catch you wanking.

Think of that hovering outside your window next time you touch yourself and see how Mr. Happy likes it.

I don't watch Faux News.

Did I say you did?

Originally Posted by MrG

what are the rules for this brave new world.

No privacy, only secrecy.

Yes, the world is changing. Is that something new? Did Neanderthals whine when Cro Magnon used spears on them and rendered their stones and clubs obsolete? And if they did whine did it do them any good? Seen any Neanderthals lately?

IMO it goes like this: People want to kill you no matter who you are. You'll probably have something they want or a cultural feature that threatens them.

The stone was trumped buy the club, the club by the spear, the spear by the bow, and on and on right up to the drone et al. Some people call it technology .. some people call it ungodly. Whatever it is it's based in our own survival. I see that as a good thing.

Do people in power positions ever fail to use their power? Not that I know of. Maybe it's better to be the fucker than the fuckee. Of course there might be something in between, some value system perhaps. Whatever it is it isn't working, at least so far.

Peace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=XLgYAHHkPFs

Originally Posted by Camel Toe

Quote: I don't watch Faux News. Did I say you did?

As a matter of fact, you did.

Originally Posted by Camel Toe

Been watching Fox News all your life?

Originally Posted by Camel Toe

Do people in power positions ever fail to use their
power? Not that I know of. Maybe it's better to be the fucker than the fuckee. Of course there might be something in between, some value system perhaps. Whatever it is it isn't working, at least so far.

Yeah...whatever.

Originally Posted by Camel Toe

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

t the States & Europe might have to get used to the fact drones are up there watching your every move.
...just be careful when around somebody with a pair of those Google glasses.

How dramatic! Your every move. Been watching Fox News all your life? Every move. Can they catch me wanking?

Oh, you're Boon Mee.

Originally Posted by Camel Toe

Originally Posted by Camel Toe

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

t the States & Europe might have to get used to the fact drones are up there watching your every move.
...just be careful when around somebody with a pair of those Google glasses.

How dramatic! Your every move. Been watching Fox News all your life? Every move. Can they catch me wanking?

Oh, you're Boon Mee.

I think the board is loosing it again.
The "I don't watch Faux News" quote was from my post, #17, not from Boon Mee.
I'm sure Booners would gasp to know that he had been confused with MrG.

ADDENDUM
Stop. I see the error now. My mistake. Carry on.

Teakdoor watches your every move.Drone not needed.

ADDENDUM
Stop. I see the error now. My mistake. Carry on.

You owe me. My people will be in touch with your people.