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You're watched at the gas station/quick-mart, most intersections, at the ATM and in the bank, in the lobby in most office buildings, at the grocery store, inside fast-food restaurants and at the drive-thru window, in the shopping mall parking lot, inside the shopping mall, inside stores in shopping malls, just about everything in the USA is under surveillance.
There's helicopters in cities with news cameras.
One more drone isn't going to make any difference to me.
When they come inside my house to set up surveillance then there's a problem.
They got RFID on your underwear...thank Wallymart for that.
and how is this different from the small airplanes and helicopters that law enforcement uses now?
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Maybe not a lot different, but I understand the drones fly much lower. And cannot be detected as well. So if some rogue cop is abusing his power in a helicopter, people would notice. With a drone, maybe not.
Something flew over the house last night. You couldn't see anything but the ground was vibrating, not shaking but a small vibration. It was late afternoon. There was a sound like a muted roar but not quite that, hard to describe but I have been to a couple of airshows where the stelth bomber flew over and that's what it felt like. It was a rumbling much as you get just before a quake but it kept up and when the sound started it was coming from above.
I'm not sure what it is but there are major bases around here so its not surprising. But I was thinking of the implications. I'm used to helicopters. I used to live in the Inland Empire in socal and they are everywhere and I hated at night when they would be hovering and the dog needed out. Dog and I waited until they left. I didn't need a spotlight on me... and hated that sense of being watched. All the copters in the skies did not stop the burgleries we were getting from the tweekers who hopped the fence. I didn't feel threatened by them with the dog.
After the vibration and noise quit last night I thought about the implications of something which can sit above you and watch. It isn't like a copter. You know its there. It isn't even like a silent camera on a business. I don't really have a problem with camera's inside the premisis of a business. The local Walmart here did have to remove the ones that saw way further than the parking lot after a lawsuit, but a business does have the right to protect itself against theft.
I have two problems with drones... first the unknows surveylence. If there is a reason to watch get a warrent. When I get a fence in the yard and cover it with vines I look forward to sitting with a little privacy. The whole idea of surveylance where it is "just in case" is stealing away more of what has substancially been taken. Just because it is further along does not mean we shouldn't draw a line.
The other is safety. Very few copters crash. They are small. The pilots try to keep them from being deadly. A drone is a large and entirely dependent on electronics. What if it fails? Do you want something which could wipe out a swath of an area floating up there in case it fails?
We are fast becoming a society where everything is positioned where we are assumed gulity. That we'll shoplift. That we are doing something neferious when the dog needs out. When we want to visit the relatives on a plane... and so on. Long ago our justice system bogged down and if it wasn't for the practice of plea bargins being the first step, we'd have seen it crash. But a plea bargain without a chance to defend yourself also assumes guilt, which our justice system is not supposed to do.
Orwell was off by a few years but in time will be hailed in secret as the great prophet. But carefully because his words will be forbidden.
Last edited by nightbird47; 01-27-2011 at 03:04 PM..
Reason: too many typos. New ergonomic keyboard is great on the hands but until I get used to it not so great on the typos.
That's because there aren't any UAVs being used up there now. You don't care about the potential loss of life because it won't be your life (unless you happen to be unlucky enough to be under one of our planes when they go down). Typical uncaring, follow the herd, accept big government without question attitude. It reminds us, once again, that not all "drones" are mechanical.
bunch of hogwash in this post. where i live the vast majority of aircraft that fly over my house are heavy commercial jets in the landing pattern for the airport. the next most frequent fly overs are by police helicopters at night, and that is quite rare in my neighborhood. in the past 40 years i have seen something like 20 GA aircraft fly over my house, and they were at 5000ft. if the drones are going to fly lower than that, then the likely hood of a midair collision is quite remote. i live within two miles of a major air force base, and within 6 miles of an international airport.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roadking2003
Maybe not a lot different, but I understand the drones fly much lower. And cannot be detected as well. So if some rogue cop is abusing his power in a helicopter, people would notice. With a drone, maybe not.
not necessarily. just because a police chopper is flying around doesnt always mean it is seen by people on the ground.
I'm not sure it really matters when cities are using Google Earth to look for building code violations. In some areas Google Earth shows enough detail that you can see the type of TV antenna people have on their rooftops.
Give it about 50 years and we'll all be clones without any individual views, everyone will have the sames views, beaten down and conformed to the rules that other people create instead of accepting the other person.
bunch of hogwash in this post. where i live the vast majority of aircraft that fly over my house are heavy commercial jets in the landing pattern for the airport. the next most frequent fly overs are by police helicopters at night, and that is quite rare in my neighborhood. in the past 40 years i have seen something like 20 GA aircraft fly over my house, and they were at 5000ft. if the drones are going to fly lower than that, then the likely hood of a midair collision is quite remote. i live within two miles of a major air force base, and within 6 miles of an international airport.
And that is why you don't see a lot of GA airplanes. There are airspace restrictions of where planes can fly. When I lived in Miami I saw a small airplane fly overhead about once every 5 minutes every day during the daytime. It was because I was between Homestead Air Force Base's airspace and MIA's airspace. If you wanted to fly up along the coast heading out of TMB then you had to fly over my area. Just because you might be under class bravo airspace don't think that means there aren't general aviation airplanes flying around other areas. Also, you probably are way off with your altitude estimate. People that don't fly (non-pilots) have a very poor record of judging altitudes of planes in the air above them.
I have no expectation of absolute privacy in public.
How about in your back yard? On your deck?
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