That video is from over a year ago. And then there’s this from last week:
After years of political pressure from politicians, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar says that he expects the federal government to deliver unmanned aircraft to watch over the Texas border with Mexico by this fall.
Cuellar, a Democrat from Laredo, Texas, said last week that he has had discussions with top officials from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s office of air and marine operations, and they agreed to the timetable, subject to Federal Aviation Administration approval to allow the surveillance planes – often referred to in the political vernacular as “Predator drones” – to fly over Texas.
The show ’24′ had drones flying over Manhattan as a normal, every day thing. Given how relatively invisible they can be from the ground, they may be flying above you right now and you don’t know it. But you have nothing to hide, right?
Nice to see they are spending their speeding ticket money wisely.
#15 Bil said “I wonder, are there any other countries that have open borders that don’t care if you go there and stay and do whatever?”
One way to find out, go due North from Guatemala.
Some small drones are cheap. All you have is a remote controlled “toy” airplane with a video camera on board. I think some go for less than $500.
These small drones do the same thing observation choppers do. They do it much, much, much cheaper and some can do it for much longer at a time. The cost of keeping a chopper in the air for seven hours might cover the cost of the drone shown.
Which had you rather have crash on your house; a fifteen pound drone or several hundred pounds of chopper?
Now, Dallas, its undignified to quibble.
“Armed”===”bearing firearms”
If you meant “equipped” thats a different word entirely.
So resistant we all are to admit being tagged. Spoiled children failed to learn the better lessons at recess.
Quibbling is for kids. Debate is for adults.
>> deowll said, on May 17th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
>> Some small drones are cheap. All you have is a remote controlled “toy” airplane with a video camera on board. I think some go for less than $500.
I was watching a Jihadi channel on Arab satellite TV and they showing off this little drone they had captured.
It looked just like a remote control airplane you’d see a hobbyist use in the states.
I wondered if they had been punked or something but I’ve learned that this is a real thing.
Seems like a good idea although what could the range be?
#24 why so you quibble with armed vs equiped?
The drone I had in mind had mechanical arms that tossed a net to snare the trespassing Mejicanos.
In the news clip, they seem to be trying to drum up the idea that this is a new/invasive attack on privacy, but I fail to see how it’s different (legally) from a police helicopter. Sure it can stay up longer and quieter, but if they have the legal right to watch us from helicopters, then it seems like they have the legal right to watch us from drones. This line of argument has long been left by the wayside.
Because a helicopter requires $1000 an hour to fly, and a drone maybe $250. There could be 4 times as many drones keeping track of the citizenry, increasing the “casual” surveilance of us (looking for major and minor infractions, like not coming to a complete stop at a sign).
No city can afford wide area casual surveilance by helicopter.