Drones In Our Skies

[guido911]

I have been holding off on this issue to get an understanding its scope. Right now, I am in the "not concerned" corner. However, if this turns out to be a Skynet thing, then I am busting out my flux capacitor to change my opinion.

Surveillance aircraft used by the U.S. military overseas could soon be coming to the skies above Los Angeles County.


The FAA has streamlined the process that would allow agencies to fly smaller, unarmed versions of the drones that hunt down terrorists in places such as Pakistan and Afghanistan.

While the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has not yet applied for an application to fly drones over our skies, its Homeland Security chief Bob Osborne said drones could be in the department's future — with some caveats.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/05/15/faa-to-ease-rules-for-police-agencies-to-fly-unmanned-drones/

[nathanm]

I would also be unconcerned if we didn't keep hanging on to the war on drugs as an excuse to erode civil liberties as much as possible.

[Hoss]

I have been holding off on this issue to get an understanding its scope. Right now, I am in the "not concerned" corner. However, if this turns out to be a Skynet thing, then I am busting out my flux capacitor to change my opinion.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/05/15/faa-to-ease-rules-for-police-agencies-to-fly-unmanned-drones/

Someone better call Sarah Connor and Ahnold....

[Teatownclown]

Are they quieter than the choppers? Do they emit a buzz?

[we vs us]

Isn't this old news?  I thought state and local law enforcement had been piling onto the drone bandwagon for at least a year or two, if not more. 

[guido911]

Isn't this old news?  I thought state and local law enforcement had been piling onto the drone bandwagon for at least a year or two, if not more. 

Aw great. THAT'S what those black helicopters over my house have been. Thanks we.

[we vs us]

Nope.  Those were just black helicopters.  The drones are silent and invisible. 

[Red Arrow]

The drones are silent and invisible.  

Not really.  They just fly high enough to be hard to hear and see for their size.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/predator1.htm

[nathanm]

Don't worry, I'll be building my own drone soon enough. I'll give you guys some camera time.

[Conan71]

It's okay, I know where Bruno keeps his stash.

I was truly disappointed to not see any foil-wrapped mortar boards at the two OU commencements I attended last Saturday.  Some great creativity, but no foil, damn it!

[Teatownclown]

30,000 Drones To Fly Over The US by 2030

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/06/20126247243722488.html

http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/apl/aviation_forecasts/aerospace_forecasts/2011-2031/media/2011%20Forecast%20Doc.pdf
Never mind big brother, the kid next door will have a camera up with a live feed.

[swake]

I'm not generally a big conspiracy person, but you pair drones with the Patriot Act and the new NSA supercomputer being built in the Utah desert to aggregate all of the information that the NSA "collects" today and what the government knows about all of us and what we are doing will be staggering. Privacy is SO 20th century.




The NSA Is Building the Country's Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/all/

The machine is real, Feds building that 'Person of Interest' computer
http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/the_machine_is_real_vchDOSJXWs20IaBUJkk9CO

It goes online in September 2013

[patric]

30,000 Drones To Fly Over The US by 2030

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/06/20126247243722488.html

http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/apl/aviation_forecasts/aerospace_forecasts/2011-2031/media/2011%20Forecast%20Doc.pdf
Never mind big brother, the kid next door will have a camera up with a live feed.

Target practice for police snipers?

[jacobi]

My solution to big brother monitoring my life is to have a boring enough life that no one cares.

[patric]

I'm not generally a big conspiracy person, but you pair drones with the Patriot Act and the new NSA supercomputer being built in the Utah desert to aggregate all of the information that the NSA "collects" today and what the government knows about all of us and what we are doing will be staggering. Privacy is SO 20th century.

Most of the drones involved in that may be flying cell cites that intercept phone conversations, doing Siri-like conversions of speech to text to be analyzed by computers for hot keywords and phrases.