DRONE AIRCRAFT IN US SKIES - yay or nay?

[Bang]

Here's an article I saw a couple of weeks ago, and our discussion over the second amendment reminded me of it.. so rather than hijack that one,, I'll make two threads today.

FEDS UNDER PRESSURE TO OPEN US SKIES TO DRONES
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100614/...s_over_america

WASHINGTON – Unmanned aircraft have proved their usefulness and reliability in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq. Now the pressure's on to allow them in the skies over the United States.

The Federal Aviation Administration has been asked to issue flying rights for a range of pilotless planes to carry out civilian and law-enforcement functions but has been hesitant to act. Officials are worried that they might plow into airliners, cargo planes and corporate jets that zoom around at high altitudes, or helicopters and hot air balloons that fly as low as a few hundred feet off the ground.

On top of that, these pilotless aircraft come in a variety of sizes. Some are as big as a small airliner, others the size of a backpack. The tiniest are small enough to fly through a house window.

The obvious risks have not deterred the civilian demand for pilotless planes. Tornado researchers want to send them into storms to gather data. Energy companies want to use them to monitor pipelines. State police hope to send them up to capture images of speeding cars' license plates. Local police envision using them to track fleeing suspects. more under link

Now, this really can open up Pandora's box and start us on the way of Orwell. This would be the proverbial unblinking eye in the sky. How much freedom do we trade for security? Will our cities be patrolled from above by cops using joysticks? Will these things be armed?

Some stuff to talk about. I truly am undecided on them, I can see arguments both for and against.. but I think I'm leaning to the against side on this one. That's a little too much like Big Brother for my tastes, and even though he's already deeply ingrained in our lives now, it's kind of creepy to think they might be up there looking at everything.
However, I think it is an inevitable eventuality.

~Bang

[visionary]

Good idea!



Then we can set up Skynet to help control them.


The humans, that is.

[Stew]

Satelites have been around for a long time, if big brother wanted to, couldnt they just use those to spy on us?

[War Paint]

We're going to party likes it's 1984.

[GoSkins561]

Not a big deal IMO.

[Bang]

Satelites have been around for a long time, if big brother wanted to, couldnt they just use those to spy on us?

Well, yeah, but they are limited by distance as to what they can see or detect. Drones can literally be right outside your window.

~Bang

[Obibyn23]

Could have sworn i saw one the other day when wifey and I were walking at a park in White Marsh...to big for a kite, to high for a glider, but moved to smoothly for an airplane (in circles before it took off out of sight), and there was no noise. Wife saw it as well. Then this pops up. I know this hasn't been approved yet, but it wasn't normal, and it was shaped like a plane. Not to mention we are very close to Martins State Airport which is a military airbase.

[Sandman69]

Satelites have been around for a long time, if big brother wanted to, couldnt they just use those to spy on us?

Cept Satellites orbit the earth and have windows of oportunities. A Drone craft could follow your car home from work, watch you pickup groceries, stop by the cleaners, go by CVS and get your meds, follow you to your house, wait for you to leave, follow you to the bar. Then maybe they could monitor your bar tab then follow you home and drop a bomb on your drunk ass!

[killerbee99]

Cept Satellites orbit the earth and have windows of oportunities. A Drone craft could follow your car home from work, watch you pickup groceries, stop by the cleaners, go by CVS and get your meds, follow you to your house, wait for you to leave, follow you to the bar. Then maybe they could monitor your bar tab then follow you home and drop a bomb on your drunk ass!

Bam!!!

[skinfan13]

short answer no, long answer nope.

we need to find an effective way to locate these suckers too. The average drone these days is not visible past 100 ft. The high profile strike drones, such as the reaper and predator, are very visible, but they aren't the only types of drones. Most drones are very small, relatively speaking. Detecting, and more importantly, shooting them down is becoming a very big challenge. It won't be long before other nations catch up and deploy their own surveillance drones, so figuring out how to counter them is a much more important task in terms of national security than flying them over our soil.

U.S. drones over American soil is only a matter of when and not if at this point, although I am still majorly opposed to the idea, it is the inevitable future.

[heyholetsgogrant]

I am in favor of using them in Baltimore.

[twa]

Satelites have been around for a long time, if big brother wanted to, couldnt they just use those to spy on us?

Yes,and with geosynchronous orbits they can always be on station.

It is against the law for them to do so domestically I think(but what's a damn piece of paper ?)

I have no issue with drone use in general,the devil is in the details

[frostyj]

I wouldn't object to "Tornado researchers want to send them into storms to gather data. Energy companies want to use them to monitor pipelines." and the like.

As far a LE or BB, nope.

[skinfan2k]

They did this in 24, so it has to be real!

[FanboyOf91]

It's all fun n games until some other nation starts using them.