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Science/Tech See other Science/Tech Articles Title: Aerial surveillance is here to stay; its time to talk about privacy Aerial surveillance is here to stay; it’s time to talk about privacy Posted on August 25, 2016 by Sam Rolley small drone title Personal Liberty Poll Exercise your right to vote. Law enforcement agencies throughout the country are increasingly turning to drone technology developed for military use to keep an ever-present eye in the sky. Unfortunately, little has been revealed about how the data they gather may be used to prosecute residents. Bloomberg reported this week that cops in Baltimore are using a small plane equipped with highly capable cameras to record what’s happening on the city’s streets on a near-constant basis. From the report: Since the beginning of the year, the Baltimore Police Department had been using the plane to investigate all sorts of crimes, from property thefts to shootings. The Cessna sometimes flew above the city for as many as 10 hours a day, and the public had no idea it was there. A company called Persistent Surveillance Systems, based in Dayton, Ohio, provided the service to the police, and the funding came from a private donor. No public disclosure of the program had ever been made. The full story provides a fascinating look into how police are getting their hands on aerial surveillance technology developed to track terrorists in deserts in the Middle East and using it collect evidence high above American streets. But this isn’t just happening in big cities. Smaller police agencies throughout the country are also getting in on the action, as Think Progress just reported: Residents of Minnesota’s largest county may soon notice police drones whizzing around overhead. The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) has already deployed a small quadcopter, but what will surprise observers of that drone — assuredly the first of more to come — is the serious lack of oversight regarding its use. Law enforcement officials are able to use the drone to collect evidence without first obtaining a warrant, and they are still failing to explain the full scope of the program. The quadcopter currently being used in the county was first used as early as May to search for a missing student, according to media reports, despite HCSO officials saying earlier the drone would only begin flying operationally a month later. The county sheriff’s office maintains that the drone will only be used for search and rescue missions, like the one in May, but it seems that more may be in store. Its Unmanned Aerial Systems policy currently outlines “protocols [for] data intended to be used as evidence” and “[facilitates] law enforcement access to images and data captured by the UAS.” Drone use by law enforcement is a story we’ve heard before. Last year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation revealed: U.S. Customs And Border Protection recently ‘discovered’ additional daily flight logs that show the agency has flown its drones on behalf of local, State and Federal law enforcement agencies on 200 more occasions than previously released records indicated. What we haven’t heard, however, is exactly how law enforcement agencies use the drones to gather evidence and how that evidence may later be used in court. And that’s bad news, how extremely constant aerial surveillance could change law enforcement in America. The ACLU noted that the technology gives the government “a virtual time machine, which allows them to go back and retroactively surveill any of us at any time.” “It is the technological equivalent of having a GPS attached to each and every one of us every time we walk out of our door. This is a technology that promises to do for our physical movements what the NSA has aimed to do with our communications: collect it all. Simply put, that is an enormous amount of power to give to a government agency. We Americans (as well as the residents of other countries) are going to need to decide whether we are willing to accept the potentially sweeping changes this could bring to our society.” But, hey, if you have nothing to hide… Right? Poster Comment: Where is the Energizer Bunny when we need him? Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: BTP Holdings (#0)
Where is a SAM missile when we need it?
“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken
That would be over kill. A Stinger would do the trick. ;) "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
You're right, an RPG should get it done if the drones have enough of a signature to lock onto.
“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken
I doubt that, but the Stinger has a built in tracking unit that will lock on to the target. Then, PLOFFO! ;) "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
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