UAV's Over LA Says BBC

This is so ridiculous, how we have to hear about this stuff from the BBC.

news.bbc.co.uk...

UAVs have long been used by the military in war zones such as Iraq or Afghanistan. But the technology has been adapted for domestic use and could revolutionise the way law enforcement agencies carry out surveillance and rescue operations.

The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department (LASD) has been experimenting with a drone called SkySeer, which it intends to put into service later this month.

SkySeer looks like a remotely controlled model aircraft. It has a wingspan of 6.5 feet (1.98m) and weighs 4 pounds (1.81kg). A camera is attached to its belly and a small battery powers the drone.

It may be in the domestic papers too, I haven't seen it yet though.

I'm sure this will fly, no pun intended, despite the objections of a fringe group of naysayers. The majority of people seem perfectly comfortable with the idea of 24/7 surveillance. The mentality seems to be that "If you're not doing anything wrong, you've got nothing to worry about."

It won't be long before there are UAV's over every American city, providing real-time video on demand for law enforcement.

And can someone explain to me why the taxpayers are stuck paying 25k for what amounts to a tiny model airplane? It can't possibly be that expensive in materials and research, can it?

If people are so willing to give away their rights, let them. When the police state arrives and they get arrested for reading or thinking the wrong things, then good. They friggin deserve it.

I stopped trying to defend the rights of people when I realized people are stupid, useless cattle who cant handle freedom and human dignity. Let them become victims.

My only regret is for the relatively few human beings who value freedom, privacy, civility, and dignity. They will be the ones who wrongly suffer from all these violations. Those few souls who are actually worth fighting for, who are trapped in the useless herds and masses of stupified cattle rushing home to watch reality tv.

Makes me sick.

I agree completely - there are consequences attached to every decision.

When people choose entertainment and ephemeral pleasures over their own survival, it's nobody's fault but their own when they bite the dust.

Maybe this new world is what people want. Maybe it's what they need. Only time will tell.

Hi WyrdeOne,

I did a thread on this over in Aircraft projects, a few replies there too.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

CX.

Yeah CX, I know. I would have locked this one myself if I could have, since your thread got more responses (in hindsight the aircraft forum would have been a better place to put the article).

I left a note on your thread asking the mods not to lock it, even though this one was posted first.

There's no more "giving away rights" to this UAV than having a police helicopter look for a suspect or search for victims. It's the same thing, just in a smaller package.

'Cause everyone knows the real surveillance drones don't make the news.

Originally posted by WyrdeOne

I left a note on your thread asking the mods not to lock it, even though this one was posted first.

Oops sorry about that lol!

CX.

Originally posted by WyrdeOne

[...]
And can someone explain to me why the taxpayers are stuck paying 25k for what amounts to a tiny model airplane? It can't possibly be that expensive in materials and research, can it?

well, there is the infrastructure involved which makes this 'model airplane w/camera' a useful 'tool'.

that is why there are projects (since at least Dec 1996) to get a technology &
workable system to make these UAVs...'Autonomyous'

meaning there does not need to be a human acting as a remote-pilot to direct these UAVs or to sit & monitor a real-time TV screenshot.
meaning that data & telemetry sent by the on board sensors would only 'alert' a human overseer to observe some anomaly the computer program/algorithm deemed an 'alert'....
this might be a vehicle accident, or lightning strike~ a burning building, or whatever the mission of that particular drone/UAV might be.

I see this UK disclosure as a pretty standard disclosure leak...let a distant
(as opposed to FOX or CNN types, in country sources) spoon feed the public,
until the idea that UAVs over our heads in many major cities, becomes more plausable, then non-invasive/less threatning, more mainstream, then acceptable

~~~~~~~~~~

in other threads, i posted that i witnessed in Dec 1996, a 12' triangle in the night sky of Phoenix AZ, which followed Camelback Avenue @ a slow 12-20mph at an altitude between 60-90'...and i watched as the same 12' triangle some 25 minutes later made a return overhead pass, following the same Camelback Avenue corridor, but this time from West-to-East.. There are numberous defense contractors and associated aircraft contractors in the Phoenix AZ area...
and there is the experimental military labs involved with exotic UAVs out of NV