Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Spy Drones Over the City! -- a retort

Spy Drones Over the City! -- a retort: "For some odd reason when drudge posted this article on spy drones that will be used by civilian law enforcement it caused a huge stir among people. But I don't see the big deal. People tend to have this aversion to UAVs in general equating the technology with danger. I see this a lot inside the hobbiest UAV culture where some remote-contol hobbiest call them dangerous (apprently more dangerous than a clothed ape with a remote control.. but I digress). But allow me to focus on the article from drudge and peer inside this 'flying eye in the sky!' boogeyman a bit.

1. Law enforcement already has the abilty to linger in airspace above any city. This is called a helicopter. Many police  departments in the US began to use helicopters for law enforcement after returning Korean War soldiers saw their usefulness in transporting wounded troops from the battlefield. This role was expanded to include enforcement, specifically the ability to track suspected criminals.

2. News helicopters. We have more than our share of news aircraft floating above us. How many times have to see aerial video on the TV? This is not new, in fact use of cameras in aircraft is very old.

3. Other aircraft - look up. Chances are good if you live in a urban area that you'll see an aircraft. Are they spying on you? Maybe. But most l"

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