Blimps Monitor Crowds At Sporting Events

Death Metal tips news about how defense contractor Raytheon is adapting military-style surveillance packages for use aboard blimps at public events like the Indy 500. "Until recently, Raytheon's eye-in-the-sky technology was used in Afghanistan and Iraq to guard American military bases, working as airborne guards against any oncoming desert threat. Using infrared sensors and a map overlay not unlike Google Earth, the technology scans a large area, setting important landmarks (say, the perimeter of a military base), and constantly relays video clips back to a command center. If a gun fires or a bomb is detonated, the airships can detect the noise and focus the camera — all from a mighty-high 500 feet." Though the technology is expensive, Raytheon is shopping it around to police departments and other organizations that might want to keep an eye on large gatherings of people.

FP

[Ethanol-fueled]

Silly Raytheon.

There aren't going to be any terrorist attacks.

You just throw money at congressmen.

But seriously, this is horseshit. The only bad guys they catch will be the ones up in the nosebleed section sitting alone with their girlfriends who are discretely giving them head or playing "bouncy-horse" [break.com] on their laps.

Stupid and shortsighted

[Anonymous Coward]

This technology is useless without an active targeting and response system.

Your enemies will think you are weak without an accompanying predator drone.

This is great!

[joocemann]

Considering the fact that we've had so many problems with stadium slaughterings and bombings.

oh wait... i ate too much scramby eggs w/ sarcasm on the side.

Lol @ excessive response to lesser problems.

Oops

[PPH]

When I read the title, I thought this was about donut-eating cops.

Never mind.

I lolled

[Anonymous Coward]

I read this and facepalmed, then I looked at the byline:

BadAnalogyGuy

Ah, that explains everything.

these robot/aliens take on forms that make them blend in with our everyday environment.

Like a car, for example. Do you think you could work a car into your analogy somehow? This is Slashdot, after all.

People being monitored!?

[Karganeth]

Using traditional slashdot logic, I have arrived at the conclusion that this must be bad... somehow.

[thread usurped for breaking news]

[Anonymous Coward]

The summary forgot to mention a shocking revalation from the article, where Lee Silvestre, vice president of mission innovation talked about their choice of operating system:

Linux just isn't ready for the blimp yet. It may be ready for the web servers nerds use to distribute TRON fanzines and personal Dungeons and Dragons web-sights across the world wide web, but the average blimp operator isn't going to spend months learning how to use a CLI and then hours compiling packages so that they can get a workable graphic interface with map overlay and infrared sensors to check their terrorist threats with, especially not when they already have a Windows machine that does its job perfectly well and is backed by a major corporation, as opposed to Linux which is only supported by a few unemployed nerds living in their mother's basement somewhere. The last thing I want is a level 5 dwarf (haha) providing our blimp software.

Now we know who's been trolling Slashdot!

Re:This is great!

[The Archon V2.0]

Lol @ excessive response to lesser problems.

Something must be done to combat terrorism.
This is something.
Therefore, we must do this.

Re:Bang! Pop. Crash.

[Plunky]

Agreed. Also, anyone seriously criminal would just shoot at the blimp, possibly from miles outside the stadium.

Actually, bits of flaming blimp raining down on a crowd would be pretty terrifying in itself. Remind me to take a tinfoil umbrella.

Bravo the Military Industrial Complex!

[CuteSteveJobs]

Using high-tech blimps to spy on sporting crowds is a fantastic idea to fill the gap until our intelligence services work out some way to get their own people into the crowds of these events, but to do that they would need to crack the intelligence crown jewels and figure out how and when these events will be held. It's great the things that government and the military industrial concept can achieve that a lesser mind might be tempted to do on the cheap.

And to the NSA guy sneering at this post, why aren't you doing something about bin Laden instead? He's on the Afgani-Pakistan border. Everyone knows it. The Daily Show event did a live cross from there. Or don't you guys get cable?

Re:Even if there are attacks

[theheadlessrabbit]

...I think video footage BEFORE the gun or bomb noise would typically be of greater interest than the footage after.

It'll take about 0.5 seconds for sound to travel the 500 feet up to the airships.

Thus all that fancy expensive tech might end up giving you just lower res pics before the camera zoomed and focused in and got videos of everybody except the culprits.

but the after-footage will be useful for broadcasting over and over again, putting the general public into a state of panic, so politicians and corporations can exploit their fears and get away with even more wasteful spending.

Luckily...

[EmagGeek]

... it's illegal in the US to fly an airship less than 1000 feet above a gathering of people, or less than 1000 feet above the highest obstacle within 2000 lateral feet of the airship.

That's bad in itself.

[Futurepower(R)]

"People shoot at the Goodyear blimp all the time."

It would be scary to ride in the blimp.

Re:Good old Raytheon

[Hognoxious]

Well applying laws to everyone would make everyone equal, and as we all know equality is the same as communism. And communism is against freedom, which is unAmerican. Therefore, in the spirit of freedom, only those people who deserve it are allowed to be free.