Coming to the Friendly Skies: Drones!
So the government has been leaning on the FAA to actually start allowing more civilian uses of drones. Up to this point the FAA has been unwilling to allow licenses to fly the drones in USA airspace due to possible collisions with other aircraft. Of course neither side is worried about the implications to privacy in this matter. It seems like what our government leaders care about is just making money off the technology. At least the FAA sort of cares about people’s safety.
Of course one of the other groups looking to get their hands on drones for civilian application are law enforcement. It’s not just the Orwellian implications of this that I’m worried about. All around the nation cities are putting up as many “Red Light Cameras” as possible in order to raise funds. Now could you imagine unmanned drones taking over more traffic policing duties? The great thing about drones is that they just report, they can’t be sympathetic. They also can’t use common sense. When was the last time you tried doing the speed limit on a busy road? Or an expressway? Wouldn’t matter if a drone captured your car going 5 MPH over, ticket time.
It’s already been mentioned that most of the drones can be fitted with weapons. While most law enforcement organizations are looking into non-lethal deterrents, it’s a lot easier to attack people with the push of a button instead of in person. Imagine for example the decision is made to break up a protest using drones. They indiscriminately drop pepper spray and tear gas, both non-lethal. It’s a lot easier to do that then to be the pepper spray cop and find yourself mocked for it.
Of course that ignores that it is easier to read a situation when your there in person as compared to making decisions from a sterile office watching a screen. It’s another dehumanizing move, but one that local governments will be happy to make if it means more money. At the same time the drones will be a lot more loyal in the long run. No unions holding out about medical or overtime. No questioning of tactics. They are the perfect replacements.
But I’m sure in the end it’ll be the same old arguments we hear whenever a new camera sprouts up somewhere. It’s for our own safety. If you don’t do anything wrong, you don’t have to worry about it. Soon they’ll be everywhere and people will just ignore them. Just like those cameras for stores that need to be viewing the street in front of them at all times. You know, in case a car gets a flat tire and needs assistance.
Technology moves forward, and our privacy is at risk again. But it doesn’t really matter today, because most people don’t even care about their privacy. They spam everything all over facebook and twitter, and then are shocked when they are called out about it. As though you bothering to point out what they are saying to the world makes you the bad guy. People won’t care until it bites them in the ass, and by the it will be too late.
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1984, Bullshit, drone, FAA, flight, Government, law enforcement, Orwell, pepperspray, Unmanned drone
I haven’t heard or this yet but it doesn’t surprise me, we’re basically living in a police state. Our government is no better then those so-called repressive governments we send our troops to fight and die for so these corporations can make a profit on their high tech equipment and bombs, including these drones. but why stop there? the big money is to use these against us. This is the type of big government conservatives love, they cry out about losing freedom and liberty over bullshit
(sorry didn’t finish) they cry out about losing their freedoms over bullshit like health care but when it comes to really losing our freedoms by things like this, the patriotic act, torture wiretaps they are strangely silent.