Facebook in talks to acquire drone company for $60 million: reports

(Reuters) - Facebook Inc is in talks to buy drone maker Titan Aerospace for $60 million, according to media reports.

The high-flying drones would give Facebook, the world's No.1 Internet social network, the ability to beam wireless Internet access to consumers in undeveloped parts of the world, according to the technology blog TechCrunch. TechCrunch first reported the deal late on Monday, citing an anonymous source.

The effort would help advance Facebook's Internet.org effort, aimed at connecting billions of people who do not currently have Internet access in places such as Africa and Asia.

Facebook declined to comment.

Facebook in talks to acquire drone company for $60 million: reports

Titan Chief Executive Vern Raburn declined to comment on whether Facebook was buying the company or a large order of its planes.

This scares the living daylights out of me. Here is a company that is well known as being a place tha tthe authorities capture a lot of information from, looking to put drones up in the sky supposedly "to give connectivity" to people that don't have internet.

Why does this look like a roundabout way to get drones up in the sky that could potentially be spying on our every move?

Why does this sound Orwellian?

And why does it scare me so that this is Facebook doing this?

I get freaked out too - hearing about these companies (Google, now Facebook, etc.) developing/purchasing technologies that could EASILY be used in destructive ways - or ways that threaten our privacy. It seems like 9 times out of 10 when this kind of thing happens an ulterior motive eventually rises to the surface.

Along with Google buying the largest military robotics maker, this is spooky.

Now its becoming Drone Invader...

Skybook really follow your friends in real time.

Skyfloating
Along with Google buying the largest military robotics maker, this is spooky.

Surely those FB drones are going to keep tabs on all of those with the Google neck tattoo.

Drones for wireless? Um....

And, yeah, because people who don't have food, medical care, and/or cleanwater need Face Book. Are they giving them tablets or phones too?

I suppose that maybe it might inspire them or make their plight more well known, but...no. This is making me nauseous.

So a company with really no assets is worth what 50 billion now is finally buying some assets for 60 billion.... ETA Oh 60 million thats it seems rather cheap from a drone company .. seems logical .

Also people want to make money share holders want to make money owners want to make money the money seems to be right now in military projects smart move in that sense .

If there was massive money being made in scrubbing toilets I am sure there might be interest in that as well

Probably planning to put that Facial recognition software database to use.

In a 2009 study Acquisti and a colleague used off-the-shelf facial recognition software and a data mining algorithm to demonstrate that they could guess social security numbers and other sensitive information belonging to people who they had seen in public.

"Facebook plans to add millions more faces to it's facial recognition database" -
source

...And Amazon is buying drones to ship packages.

Buy on-line from them in 4-5 years and a small drone will deliver the product directly to you!

watchesfromwall
...And Amazon is buying drones to ship packages.

Buy on-line from them in 4-5 years and a small drone will deliver the product directly to you!

Hi-res photographs of your family through your household windows included.

reply to post by watchesfromwall


Hmmm...thought air-traffic control or some such nixed this brilliant plan?

LOLOLOL

i just was explaining this story to my fiancé and she responded in a very humorous tone with "Maybe they want them to go online and get free samples or like fill out surveys"

the fact that she noticed the ridiculousness of it all really should highlight the ridiculousness of it lol

~Lucidity
reply to post by watchesfromwall

 

Hmmm...thought air-traffic control or some such nixed this brilliant plan?

This is what the company is still posting? :

www.amazon.com...

reply to post by watchesfromwall


Ahhh...there it is "...and wait for the necessary FAA rules and regulations."

I think the concensus was, good luck with that.

~Lucidity
reply to post by watchesfromwall

 

Ahhh...there it is "...and wait for the necessary FAA rules and regulations."

I think the concensus was, good luck with that.

The FAA is supposed to be drafting rules for drone traffic, so it may still happen.

reply to post by vkey08


Forget nuclear weapons etc., they're for madmen and so far, not one of them is insane enough to use nukes. The real power lies in this tech and the control of information. On a personal note, the idea that Facebook could control the world, well the site is vile and almost like drug addiction

vkey08

~Lucidity
reply to post by watchesfromwall

 

Ahhh...there it is "...and wait for the necessary FAA rules and regulations."

I think the concensus was, good luck with that.

The FAA is supposed to be drafting rules for drone traffic, so it may still happen.

Especially for a company that is way too big to fail.

Here's another source to ponder that mentions Facebook and amazon:

america.aljazeera.com...

Scary stuff, I think.

reply to post by vkey08


For some reason this thread gave me a thought...what if in the future corporations can declare war on each other....and facebook is buying drones to defend against googles robots....man this would be a great sci fi novel!

Ok. Buy Blackwater next and become CIA 2.0.

Coming soon to farcebook - violate posting rules get hit with a hellfire missile from a drone .. still amazes me that people are stupid enough to use farcebook to begin with when theres far better and more secure methods of communication available ..