Domestic Surveillance Drones On the Rise 96
Toe, The writes "Predator drones have now racked up over 10,000 hours of airtime in the U.S., largely for immigration enforcement. Homeland Security reports that drone operations lead to the apprehension of 4,865 undocumented immigrants and 238 drug smugglers in the past six years. Compare that to 327,577 illegal migrants caught at the southwest border in fiscal 2011. The only limits on their surveillance are FAA regulations keeping them away from crowded urban areas, and this is for safety reasons, not privacy. While the drones cannot see through windows, they certainly see a lot of what goes on in the (former) privacy of peoples' yards. The article cites Michael Kostelnik from the Office of Air and Marine for the Border Protection service saying he's never been challenged in Congress about the appropriate use of domestic drones. 'Instead the question is: Why can't we have more of them in my district?'"
Re:Unintended Consequences (Score:5, Informative)
Steady on, that sounds suspiciously like common sense. If you start applying that to narcotics control, who knows what might happen?
http://www.tdpf.org.uk/blueprint%20download.htm [tdpf.org.uk]
Coasties (Score:5, Informative)
Sorry -- posse comitatus doesn't apply to the coast guard [wikipedia.org]. And you get exactly one guess as to what service that "navy" hanger belongs to. Protip: It isn't the navy.
Re:Not so long ago... (Score:4, Informative)
The list will go on unless the path is abruptly interrupted.
Ron Paul 2012
Gary Johnson 2016
Re:Really, no big deal (Score:4, Informative)
Unless you have a falcon or hawk weighing several thousand pounds, I don't think they will have any luck no matter how well you train them. Predator drones have around 80 ft wingspan and weigh thousands of pounds.
The MQ-9 Reaper uses a 900shp turboprop engine to cruise at 172-195mph with a max speed rating of 300mph. Wingspan 66ft. Max takeoff weight 10,500lbs. Operational altitude 25,000ft, service ceiling 50,000ft. Internal payload 800lbs, external payload 3,000lbs for a combined 3,800lbs payload.
To bring one down without using ECM (electronic counter-measures) of some sort (or attacking/disrupting the operator and/or one of the control links) you'd need an A/A gun at a minimum, military A/A missile system, or some kind of homebrew R/C nose-camera equipped rocket-drone with an explosive/fragmenting warhead.
It's easier and safer to toss out any politician that's OK with using drones for surveillance of US citizens domestically. Not to say I think them being thrown out any time soon is likely. Or if they would even allow the vote outcome to stand if they were all voted out as nearly simultaneously as possible.
Strat