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Government

Drone Flying Near White House Causes Lockdown 95

Posted by timothy from the just-want-to-keep-tabs-on-the-civil-servants dept.
stowie writes: The White House was placed on lockdown this afternoon after a man allegedly tried to fly a drone near the building, authorities said. The Secret Service detained and is questioning an individual in connection with a drone flying in Lafayette Park, according to a senior official. President Barack Obama is not currently in the White House and is at Camp David. It's the second drone incident at the White House in 2015. Also covered by CNN.
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Drone Flying Near White House Causes Lockdown More

Drone Flying Near White House Causes Lockdown

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  • Oooh, a scary drone!!!! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Trailer Trash ( 60756 ) on Thursday May 14, 2015 @02:58PM (#49691963) Homepage

    Whaddya bet it's actually a toy helicopter?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Quick, someone throw a paper airplane over the fence, I mean, disposable drone.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      This is just one more data point to show that Osama and the terrorists won. Despite all the "rah rahing" and boasting about being #1, Americans piss their pants due to a drone flying near a building.

      • This is just one more data point to show that Osama and the terrorists won. Despite all the "rah rahing" and boasting about being #1, Americans piss their pants due to a toy helicopter flying near a building.

        FTFY. People are right to piss their pants if a legitimate military drone - such as the famed Predator series - is flying near your building. But those aren't sold at toy shops around the country. Toy helicopters, on the other hand, are.

  • What's the big deal? (Score:5, Funny)

    by halivar ( 535827 ) <`moc.liamg' `ta' `reglefb'> on Thursday May 14, 2015 @03:01PM (#49691983)

    I hear the president is absolutely in love with drones, and he likes to spread that love.

  • Come on, that's across the street (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    That park is across the street from the White House. I get flying around/over the White House premises, but a park seems like a pretty normal place to fly those things.

  • interview with drone operator (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    An interview with the recent drone operator who flew too close to the Whitehouse, which led to a lockdown and his detainment, was leaked to wikileaks.

    "So, why'd you do it?"
    "lel trolled."
    "That isn't exactly an answer, why did you fly the drone purposefully too close to the whitehouse? For what purpose?"
    "jej tricked."
    "Okay get the nipple clamps."
    "fug :-DDDD"

  • Ruining it for the rest of us (Score:4, Insightful)

    by captaindomon ( 870655 ) on Thursday May 14, 2015 @03:12PM (#49692089)
    What makes me mad in this case is that the pilot is ruining it for everyone else. Every time an idiot does something like this, it's going to contribute to locking down the ability for everyone else to fly them.
    • This is very true.

      While the proliferation of equipment is great, it's also leading to tons of issues.

      You must enjoy the hobby, like me.

    • The horse is already out of the barn. They can't lock it up now.

      The bad thing here is this implies that the secret service is not able to distinguish 2.4 GHz radio control signals from normal laptop/phone signals. Which I find hard to believe.

      That or this is all false flag, trying to give potential attackers confidence to use commercial radios.

    • What makes me mad in this case is that the pilot is ruining it for everyone else.

      I'm somewhere between agreeing with you and believing it was inevitable. Let's be honest: These machines will only get better and better, meaning they'll be able to carry heavier and heavier payloads. I agree his stunt will result in heavy-handedness. Where I'm not sure I agree about is if a time-traveler plucked this stunt out of history if, ten years later, we'd be in a spot that is, at all, any different.

      • Let's be honest: These machines will only get better and better, meaning they'll be able to carry heavier and heavier payloads.

        We're talking about aircraft, not electronics, you know. There's no Moore's Law going on there. They'll continue to get better and better at flying autonomously and whatnot, but they're only going to improve in terms of load capacity, range, speed, etc. at the same slow rate regular helicopters have been improving at in for the last 50 years or so.

        • Batteries. Not Moore's law but similar.

          Today they can leapfrog most by going back to delicious nutritious nitro-methane.

        • Um, no, they're going to improve at the rate of battery improvements. Whether or not that's faster or slower than you suggest, time will tell, but it is a high-priority development right now.

          • LOL, batteries?! Cheap plastic toys run on batteries. You show me a drone that runs on batteries, and I'll show you an R/C helicopter that with an actual fuel-burning engine that's a better aircraft in every way. Batteries have nothing to do with the state of the art, except maybe for running the guidance computer.

            • Who said anything about state of the art? The drones you go buy at the store are all battery operated. More battery power, more lifting power.

              • You did, in the initial claim I quoted: "Let's be honest: These machines will only get better and better, meaning they'll be able to carry heavier and heavier payloads."

                The point I'm trying to make is that you could have a drone capable of lifting a fuckton of payload right now, just by (for example) retrofitting autonomous controls to one of these [wikipedia.org].

                In other words, since helicopters already exist in a wide range of sizes and capacities and autonomous controls could be fitted to almost any of them, there's no

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by arth1 ( 260657 )

      What makes me mad in this case is that the pilot is ruining it for everyone else. Every time an idiot does something like this, it's going to contribute to locking down the ability for everyone else to fly them.

      I'm good with that. I don't want have to build an opaque dome over my property to keep privacy. And I don't want to become collateral damage of a drone strike either.

      • The problem is that the criminals will still have drones. And the media will still have them. And the police will still have them. And the terrorists will still have them. You just won't be able to have your own.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Rich0 ( 548339 )

          The problem is that the criminals will still have drones. And the media will still have them. And the police will still have them. And the terrorists will still have them. You just won't be able to have your own.

          Nobody is going to be able to keep people from having their own. They're just way too easy to build these days. They can't even keep people from building GPS devices that don't have the speed/altitude limits designed to prevent them from being used in ballistic missiles.

          Keeping people from flying drones will be like keeping people from sharing music on the internet or from speeding.

          The White House is going to have to cope with the upcoming day when anybody can stick a drone in their trunk with a 200 lbs p

          • They will just make it 10 years federal time. Same as a machine gun. Which are also just way too easy to build.

            That said; I haven't made a full auto sense I was 15. 10 years federal...

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Maybe instead of being mad at the pilot you should be mad at all the people who pee themselves over a drone flying in a park near the White House?

      Land of the free? Home of the brave? More like Land of the sissies. Home of the babies.

    • What makes me mad in this case is that the pilot is ruining it for everyone else. Every time an idiot does something like this, it's going to contribute to locking down the ability for everyone else to fly them.

      No it's not. The pilot isn't ruining anything. The government is ruining it by placing arbitrary rules on where your eyes can and cannot go.

      Now if the pilot was flying it at aircraft altitudes, or flying around the local runway, or at head height through a busy park I'd be right with you. But the fact is the only thing he's guilty of is crossing some arbitrary line that the government decided should exist around some government building because of ...erm .. terrorist are everywhere.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by khallow ( 566160 )
      Any plan that depends on idiots behaving themselves is even dumber than the idiots because we are never going to run out of idiots.

  • Also in the news... (Score:3, Funny)

    by countSudoku() ( 1047544 ) on Thursday May 14, 2015 @03:15PM (#49692117) Homepage

    A 6 year old girl was taken down by 8 FBI agents when she tried to fly a Hello Kitty Kite within 600 miles of a white house

    • Re:Also in the news... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Austerity Empowers ( 669817 ) on Thursday May 14, 2015 @03:22PM (#49692175)

      Given that she got an A on her examination on "Sharing & Caring", she got on a watch list due to her communist tendencies. Then she clearly attempted a workers overthrow. You can't really blame the government there.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Falos ( 2905315 )
        Samantha's internet and phone logs suggest she's a pedophile and is also exploiting a local addiction to cheese sticks. Financial analysis links her activity to drug lords and the Disney store. Satellite imagery shows she's either privatized a military force or likes to jump-rope.

        Samantha has three-hop ties to KNOWN TERRORIST GROUPS. Certain liberties must be compromised in order for us to protect you from the Samanthas out there.

  • To all the idiot drone users... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Last_Available_Usern ( 756093 ) on Thursday May 14, 2015 @03:26PM (#49692221)
    Please don't fuck up recreation drone use for the rest of us.

    Sincerely,

    The rest of us

    • Um . . . no.

      The fix isn't banning all flying things from around the self proclaimed important people hangouts.
      The fix is for the Government to quit over-reacting for obviously trivial issues.

      It's an RC toy. . . who gives a shit ? Go pick it up and toss it back over the fence.

      I might understand the concern if we're talking landing a fully armed Reaper drone on the front lawn, but in all
      likelihood, this is some silly ass toy. Thus, pure Benny Hill style security theater.
      ( And it's every bit as amusing I mig

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by chihowa ( 366380 )

        I think that our government is planning to become increasingly unpopular with its citizens and overreactions like these will prove important to the continued well-being of the self proclaimed important people.

        • I think that this "personal computer" thing is going to catch on and "web sites" like this one will be a common source of information to hundreds of people.

    • Please don't fuck up recreation drone use for the rest of us.

      Calling the government out on placing arbitrary limits on arbitrary buildings is not "fucking it up for the rest of us". If anything it's pushing the boundaries and raising attention to the stupidity of the very people who are fucking it up for you, the government who thinks because terrorists are hiding in the bushes people shouldn't be allowed to look at anything anymore.

  • Another over reaction? The drone did not go into Whitehouse property. He got a slap on the wrist and told not to do it again.

    • The drone did not go into Whitehouse property.

      So what? It's illegal to fly any toy RC gadget (let alone the bigger stuff) within 15 miles in every direction of downtown DC. If you're hovering a $20 mall kiosk toy copter four feet above your back yard grass way out in the Virginia or Maryland suburbs, you're eligible for a $10,000 fine and worse.

      This idiot was deliberately flying out of a federally run park (oh yeah: flying any RC machine of any kind is now illegal in ALL federally administered parks and lands, which includes millions acres of wilde

  • It is becoming obvious that there should be an anti-drone net over these premises.
  • Looks like story was updated with image of the drone. Anyone know what model that is?

  • Secret Service Head: "If a drone gets near the President, shoot it."

    [drone flies near President]

    [Secret Service Agent shoots President]

    Secret Service Head: "You misunderstood..."

  • Missile intercepts and Gatling guns are loud and and exciting, but a nice quite laser would let them take out these pesky little things. This would actually be a decent static deployment opportunity.
  • Assuming each drone flight shuts down the executive branch for an hour, for a mere $10,000 a day the government could be disabled indefinitely.

  • Last night, some football fans in Argentina managed to smuggle a whole drone into a stadium and flew it over the field [cnn.com] (see picture 3/11) just before to start an epic disturb.

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