Drones go mainstream

[SpartanDem]

Source: CNN

Dozens of companies have sprung up in the last few years making remote controlled, mini-aircraft mounted with cameras, that are increasingly being used for commercial and even entertainment purposes.

Law enforcement agencies and border patrol are using them to keep tabs on suspected scofflaws. Journalists and sports photographers use them in lieu of expensive helicopters. Real estate agents employ them for aerial photos and video. Wildlife researchers and search-and-rescue outfits are using them or studying the potential. Even the utility industry is interested in having them hunt for downed power lines after a storm.

One of the most promising uses might be in agriculture, said Chris Andersen, former editor of Wired magazine who now runs the drone maker 3D Robotics. 3D Robotics makes a $500 drone that flies itself via GPS, scouring fields for information on crop conditions including water levels, pest infestations and other signs of trouble. Currently, Andersen said farmers pay $1,000 an hour for aircraft flyovers, a cost that's prohibitively expensive.
.....
But the spread of the new technology is also raising a host of new issues.
Privacy: While the American Civil Liberties Union is still finalizing its position on drones, the group has some reservations about how the technology could infringe on citizens' rights."The technology of surveillance is becoming retail, and that will pose real challenges to our traditional notion of privacy," said Catherine Crump, an ACLU attorney.


Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/09/technology/drones/

[Demeter]

1. A Universal Ban on Weaponization will satisfy me

Snoop all you want, but no license to kill.

Then we can go after the snooping....

[groundloop]

2. Drones scare the hell out of other airspace users

As a pilot the last thing I want is to be sharing airspace with a small, hard to see aircraft piloted by a low-bid contractor at a video game console miles away. The drone makers will tell us whatever we want to hear as far as their safety, but the fact is that the people operating or programming them don't have their ass on the line like a real, live pilot does. It's only a matter of time before one of them is involved in a midair collision.

[Kelvin Mace]

3. When the first commercial airliner

is downed by a wayward drone sucked into and engine, then there will be some reflection in the idiocy of these things.

There will be a big debate, news headlines for about a month, and we will go right back to using them.

[Cynicus Emeritus]

8. If that happens and it will, "they" will do what they do best

and cover up the truth as a fundamental cog that must be done in the corporate interest.



Progressive, Populist and Libertarian (being in the people's interest). Corporations are not people.

[humblebum]

11. Positively agree. nt

[snooper2]

4. In Soviet Russia we make own Drones

[Cynicus Emeritus]

5. Another reason for the Second Amendment

The Second Amendment was not intended as a ticket for violence as some foolishly believe. It was intended to give tyrants pause before they casually steal our rights. The founders could not foresee drones looking in our windows, or the forced implantation of RFID devices, but they did understand human nature, and the propensity of some and the political elite to want more power at the expense of the people.

The Second Amendment serves only as a deterrent and with the same purpose as organized labor but on the plane of government. We're seeing the results of being without organized labor, as there is no offsetting deterrent to corporate power. Without the Second Amendment there is no deterrent to tyranny or government gone crazy. The real problem today is that government is ultimately controlled by banks, corporations and lobbyists, instead of the people. We should be very concerned if we are forced to give up that last deterrent.



Populist, Progressive and a Libertarian for the peoples rights. Corporations are not people.

[BainsBane]

7. really?

How long do you think you'd last with your play soldier guns if the US military wants to do something to you? You may be able to use your guns to threaten your neighbors, but they are going to do nothing in facing the most powerful military on earth. Unless of course you imagine the Second Amendment gives you the right to stockpile nuclear weapons.

Given that you are backed by one of the most powerful corporate lobbies in the country, I'd think you people would be able to come up with more convincing talking points.

[grantcart]

9. That's as an ignorant rendition of the intention of the second ammendment as you will ever find.

Classic right wing bs clothed with libertarian anti governmental bs.

[humblebum]

10. That's exactly one purpose for the 2nd Amendment.

[Cynicus Emeritus]

13. Do Goldman Sachs and the Wall St elite want us disarmed?

Those with doubts might want to answer the question. If they want average Americans neutered and made into helpless serfs and dependent totally upon a government that the elites control and own totally, then support the corporate media propaganda that the Second Amendment is superfluous but know that you are destroying America.

It bothers me more than I can explain that Americans are so completely gullible to propaganda, just as it still bothers me that Germans 70 years ago were gullible to the Nazis.

The media pushes this agenda because they are connected to corporatists just as Goldman Sachs, and yet clear thinking liberals don't get it.


Populist, Progressive, Libertarian for the rights of all American people. Not for corporations that are not people.

[Xithras]

12. Here in the California Central Valley there's a LOT of discussion about using drones in ag.

The potential ability to spot-apply fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides only where they're needed holds the promise of not only reducing costs, but of substantially reducing the amounts of those materials that make it into our environment and food chain. Food production gets cheaper, the environment gets cleaner, and worker safety gets improved because you no longer have pilots diving between power poles and fieldworkers wading through chemical covered crops. It's win/win/win.