Look! Up in the Sky! It’s a…

Drone.

Looks like it may be time to freshen up the paint on my rooftop.

The LA Times discusses the potential expanded use of drones in the U.S. (you know, a variation of the kind of thing we’ve been using so successfully in Pakistan to kill children and friendly soldiers).

Drone aircraft, best known for their role in hunting and destroying terrorist hide-outs in Afghanistan, may soon be coming to the skies near you.

Police agencies want drones for air support to spot runaway criminals. Utility companies believe they can help monitor oil, gas and water pipelines. Farmers think drones could aid in spraying their crops with pesticides.

“It’s going to happen,” said Dan Elwell, vice president of civil aviation at the Aerospace Industries Assn. “Now it’s about figuring out how to safely assimilate the technology into national airspace.” […]

Police departments in Texas, Florida and Minnesota have expressed interest in the technology’s potential to spot runaway criminals on rooftops or to track them at night by using the robotic aircraft’s heat-seeking cameras. […]

“This is a tool that many law enforcement agencies never imagined they could have,” said Steven Gitlin, a company executive.

As Glenn Greenwald tweets: “Absolute rule: when you vest the Govt with a weapon, it will expand beyond its original application.”

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19 Responses to Look! Up in the Sky! It’s a…

  1. Duncan20903 says:

    .
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    I wonder how they’re going to react when people start shooting them down.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkXPnkde164

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_iV1ahB0gI

  2. claygooding says:

    Between the removal of the right to a hearing or a trial hanging over our heads,,who cares about a little plane.

    Since police departments are competitive in nature,,as are all testosterone run organizations,are we seeing evidence of a weapons race starting up? He who has the most toys wins?

    • Duncan20903 says:

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      Who cares? I’ll bet they squeal like stuck pigs when the first several go down.

      We can’t shoot down manned flying contraptions because that would be murder. That consideration is obviated when they start using drones.

      As far as the pending legislation, the correct platitude is “prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”

      “It ain’t over ’til it’s over” ~ Yogi Berra

      • claygooding says:

        I am a fair shot but it will take a bit of luck to hit the ones I saw being demonstrated to the Austin Sheriff and posse. Especially equipped with telescopic camera’s that can look at it’s target from a half mile off.

  3. darkcycle says:

    RF jammers. Find the frequncy they use for control and broadcast Jimi Hendrix’s “Star Spangled Banner” right over it. That should make for some interesting aerobatics before it hit’s the ground…

  4. Servetus says:

    Lasers. A carbon-dioxide laser is hot enough, and unlike other lasers its beam can penetrate humidity and cloud cover. The laser has to be pulsed, otherwise a sustained hit on a single point of the target will produce a surface plasma that blocks any further penetration of the laser.

    With the right kind of equipment, the laser holes in the drone fuselage can be made to read “Down With Prohibition”, or anything suitable for the occasion.

    • ezrydn says:

      Are you forgetting Wicked Lasers “Blue Arctic” 1W Blue? Hand-held, “lightsabre-style” with 1000mw of blue laser power. Google it. Mine arrived last week. It also sets fire to wood, cloth and other touchy things.

      • Servetus says:

        Sounds great, I’ll check it out.

      • darkcycle says:

        That there device is potentially dangerous EZ, not because you might set fire to your cat, or blind yourself…but because they keep track of where those things go. If ya know what I mean.

  5. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .
    I have the utmost confidence in my colleagues in the resistance. Those things will go down.

    Like I said, it’s basically aggravated vandalism.

  6. Leonard Junior says:

    This isn’t the most sinister application; wait until they hook them up with a chem/bio arsenal.

    • claygooding says:

      How about a skunk sniffing app?

      The ones that were pictured in the article I saw were too small to support even a weapon of much size,,but it could probably carry an electronic sniffer,as in the ones they use to find meth labs.

      • Maria says:

        Real world, non lethal, applications that are being explored / already implemented not just in law /military but in forestry, farming, industrial applications as well. I got this from a cursory 10 minute Google search and some thoughtful extrapolation of white papers.

        Visual surveillance, obviously. Thermal imaging. Motion sensing. Mobile targeted cell phone tracking. Radio signal disruption/triangulation. RFID location. Inventory/herd management. Storm monitoring. Temporary wireless networks / network extension. Chemical tagging (think harmless isotopes (like those used in some medical tests) dispersed in an open area then used to ID items/people inside a zone.) Air sampling (smoke/ash/gas/chemical detection.)

        • Duncan20903 says:

          .
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          It’s the herd management thing that makes me worry. I know that most people prefer to be treated as if they were sheep rather than just sheep like, but some people just don’t like having the wool pulled over their eyes.

  7. Yage Panther says:

    Why do I never read the below though it is only a few words away from the above?

    >>Health agencies want the new tryptamines for shamanic support to spot
    >>deseases. Beauty companies believe they can help monitor physical and
    >>psychic condition. Priest think the new tryptamines could aid in spraying their
    >>crowd with blessings.

    >>“It’s going to happen,” said Deam T. Well, vice president of civil psychonautics
    >>at the Mindpace Industries Assn. “Now it’s about figuring out how to safely
    >>assimilate the technology into national mindspace.”

  8. Mike R says:

    Drones hacked by terrorists.

    http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/view/6037/us-military-drones-video-feeds-hacked-by-iraqi-terrorists/

    I hope they figure out how to secure these things before they start flying over schools and crowded public events.

  9. alanofsac says:

    Best to just distract them Topless large breasted women should do it ….well for the testosterone driven cops anyway

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