DHS built domestic surveillance tech into Predator drones

Here is another article on the advancing drone front. DHS has ordered their drone manufacture to include the ability to detect if a person is armed or not, either daytime or nighttime. They can also track your cellphone activity through this modified predator drone as well. (I did a search, nothing showed up, dunno about this samaru stuff)

Homeland Security's specifications say drones must be able to detect whether a civilian is armed. Also specified: "signals interception" and "direction finding" for electronic surveillance.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has customized its Predator drones, originally built for overseas military operations, to carry out at-home surveillance tasks that have civil libertarians worried: identifying civilians carrying guns and tracking their cell phones, government documents show.

The documents provide more details about the surveillance capabilities of the department's unmanned Predator B drones, which are primarily used to patrol the United States' northern and southern borders, but have been pressed into service on behalf of a growing number of law enforcement agencies including the FBI, the Secret Service, the Texas Rangers, and local police.

Homeland Security's specifications for its drones, built by San Diego-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, say they "shall be capable of identifying a standing human being at night as likely armed or not," meaning carrying a shotgun or rifle. They also specify "signals interception" technology that can capture communications in the frequency ranges used by mobile phones, and "direction finding" technology that can identify the locations of mobile devices or two-way radios.

current border patrol version

It seems these are getting popular with local law enforcement, and the border patrol. It wouldn't take much for them to have these modified to do domestic spying in the near future.

It seems they will keep pushing this drone issue, just like they are trying to push gun control. It's time people wake up and see that things are changing, and they are changing at an incredible pace. This type of stuff needs to be kept in check, with strict oversight. I am against domestic spying, and I see nothing good coming of this. It won't make us safer, it'll just rob us of the rest of our privacy and rights.

You can also read about the navy putting in a drone air base outside of malibu here: Malibu Navy Drone Base

news.cnet.com...

Clearly, the use of drones is an infringement of the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution.

Why do they need cell interception for border patrols?

Clearly these will be used against US citizens and are illegal. Tyranny is upon you!

P

reply to post by eXia7


So these things can fly right to you based on your phone and spy on you and make a determination on whether or not you are armed? Wow. Scary stuff. I am sure it will read biometric data to to see if you are angry or aggressive. Eventually I suppose it might lead to some Judge Dredd drone bots. I love living in the future sometimes but this scares me.

Originally posted by pheonix358
Clearly, the use of drones is an infringement of the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution.

Why do they need cell interception for border patrols?

Clearly these will be used against US citizens and are illegal. Tyranny is upon you!

P

It seems that these people don't care about the constitution clearly, which is very infuriating. As for them giving a justifiable reason for cellphone interception, they will just say they are using it to track human/drug smugglers, and the average person won't question it one bit.

This is really happening, it can't be denied anymore. Now is the time to get off the fence and make a decision, or some preparations.

Originally posted by Templeton
reply to post by eXia7

 

So these things can fly right to you based on your phone and spy on you and make a determination on whether or not you are armed? Wow. Scary stuff. I am sure it will read biometric data to to see if you are angry or aggressive. Eventually I suppose it might lead to some Judge Dredd drone bots. I love living in the future sometimes but this scares me.

edit on 2-3-2013 by Templeton because: (no reason given)

With drones having these abilities now, and the advancement of military robotics, it won't be long before they will be sending mechanized units to track you down autonomously and erase you.

see: www.abovetopsecret.com... for a glimpse of the future. Big Dog

reply to post by eXia7


I do not want to click your link. The california sand is so warm around my ears!

Seriously though, thanks I will read through it later but I am pretty sure I know what I will find. What are your thoughts on how we should handle this? There is no doubt drones are superior in many aspects like being expendable and able to handle more than 5g of pressure. It is hard to argue that it is better to put a mans life in danger than a silly robot. This is why it scares me. I see this as inevitable.

reply to post by Templeton


Well, ground based civil warfare doesn't seem like a good solution.. but we still have the power of the pen, and it's the best means of resolving these issues before they get out of control.

I believe the best method is to continue to cover domestic spying stories that pop up over the next few months, keep them in the open and stay vocal to local reps. The only people who can really fight this are the real patriots that are still in congress, but ultimately the people have to keep the pressure on them at all times, and they need to demand transparency. Until everybody can see the agenda clearly, they will keep making steps forward.

Stay vocal, use your voice!

I bet they've already been using this for a while and this news doesn't really surprise me one bit. I bet D.C. already have them flying in their airspace.

reply to post by sylent6


There is a high probability they have been using them for some time. Usually when the news reports on a story, you can bet it's old news. Dinosaur media, bringing you yesterday's news today!

One day not too far from now an elder will be sitting around telling stories to the children, stories of freedom, of will, freedom to think for oneself, freedom to say your thoughts and opinions out loud, freedom to write them down, freedom to protect yourself from others, freedom to roam the land. The children will say to their elder "What is this freedom you speak of" then the elder will be shot dead by a drone.

This is what we are headed for. Your post scares me to my bones but I knew it to be true, I keep trying to hold out faith for the Government to turn around and remember where we came from and why it was fought so hard for.

God I loved this country so much, it's history is so rich, the people of all different walks of life and their opinions so vast, I will miss this when it's gone.

Originally posted by brandiwine14
One day not too far from now an elder will be sitting around telling stories to the children, stories of freedom, of will, freedom to think for oneself, freedom to say your thoughts and opinions out loud, freedom to write them down, freedom to protect yourself from others, freedom to roam the land. The children will say to their elder "What is this freedom you speak of" then the elder will be shot dead by a drone.

This is what we are headed for. Your post scares me to my bones but I knew it to be true, I keep trying to hold out faith for the Government to turn around and remember where we came from and why it was fought so hard for.

God I loved this country so much, it's history is so rich, the people of all different walks of life and their opinions so vast, I will miss this when it's gone.

I miss it now.

The expanding control grid gets a little notice here. Go back to sleep nothing here to see move along now. These are not the droids you are looking for. Perhaps they will be able to diagnose/cause cancer in mass with their back scatter x-ray technology? What a country.

Originally posted by endats01
The expanding control grid gets a little notice here. Go back to sleep nothing here to see move along now. These are not the droids you are looking for. Perhaps they will be able to diagnose/cause cancer in mass with their back scatter x-ray technology? What a country.

Yeah, I guess I need to post pictures of kittens behind the controls of UAVs to get people to notice, I guess the expansion of the domestic control grid isn't that popular of a conspiracy I suppose.

Originally posted by eXia7
Here is another article on the advancing drone front. DHS has ordered their drone manufacture to include the ability to detect if a person is armed or not, either daytime or nighttime. They can also track your cellphone activity through this modified predator drone as well. (I did a search, nothing showed up, dunno about this samaru stuff)

Homeland Security's specifications say drones must be able to detect whether a civilian is armed. Also specified: "signals interception" and "direction finding" for electronic surveillance.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has customized its Predator drones, originally built for overseas military operations, to carry out at-home surveillance tasks that have civil libertarians worried: identifying civilians carrying guns and tracking their cell phones, government documents show.

The documents provide more details about the surveillance capabilities of the department's unmanned Predator B drones, which are primarily used to patrol the United States' northern and southern borders, but have been pressed into service on behalf of a growing number of law enforcement agencies including the FBI, the Secret Service, the Texas Rangers, and local police.

Homeland Security's specifications for its drones, built by San Diego-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, say they "shall be capable of identifying a standing human being at night as likely armed or not," meaning carrying a shotgun or rifle. They also specify "signals interception" technology that can capture communications in the frequency ranges used by mobile phones, and "direction finding" technology that can identify the locations of mobile devices or two-way radios.

current border patrol version

It seems these are getting popular with local law enforcement, and the border patrol. It wouldn't take much for them to have these modified to do domestic spying in the near future.

It seems they will keep pushing this drone issue, just like they are trying to push gun control. It's time people wake up and see that things are changing, and they are changing at an incredible pace. This type of stuff needs to be kept in check, with strict oversight. I am against domestic spying, and I see nothing good coming of this. It won't make us safer, it'll just rob us of the rest of our privacy and rights.

You can also read about the navy putting in a drone air base outside of malibu here: Malibu Navy Drone Base

news.cnet.com...

edit on 3/2/2013 by eXia7 because: (no reason given)

Point Mugu Naval Air Station has been around since WWII. It's in Oxnard not Malibu. I guess Malibu just sounds better than Oxnard.

UAV's are the new normal, just like our "jobless economic recovery". It's a lovely world to live in these days.

reply to post by eXia7

DHS has ordered their drone manufacture to include the ability to detect if a person is armed or not

So the movie that came out this summer about an alien invasion with tech that can detect armed people and machines was based on something real...i had a feeling about that.

Originally posted by pheonix358
Why do they need cell interception for border patrols?

People sneaking across the border don't use cell phones? They don't call ahead to let others know when they're going to be somewhere, and where to meet them? This technology has been around for 3 years now, in the ASIP payload. This is actually a slightly downgraded version of it.