
Amazon gets U.S. patent to use delivery drones for surveillance service - rectang
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-patent/amazon-gets-u-s-patent-to-use-delivery-drones-for-surveillance-service-idUSKCN1TM2OI
======
salawat
I find this odd.

It almost seems a bit like patenting a Ponzi scheme.

While one can make the argument that surveillance via delivery has positive
uses; this seems like it's getting close to stalker/PI territory, one which is
downright illegal, the other tends to have at least some level of
regulation/licensing around it. Also, any data collection capability by the
drone swarms is going to be streaming all the time most likely, so I'd have
significant concerns w.r.t. data storage/destruction.

Also, what level of due diligence is Amazon going to actually do to ensure
someone requesting the service is actually a resident authorized to give
permission for data collection at that location anyway? I can see this type of
thing getting abused to case entire locale's under the right circumstances.

Frankly, big tech sentiment going the way it is, I sure hope these things
stick to the streets; I can see the more trespassing conscious getting a bit
more aggressive about unexpected drones over their property.

------
newman8r
What exactly is novel about this patent? I'm curious what this patent would
actually protect, as it seems extremely general.

------
tracer4201
The concept is really interesting, IMO.

Disclaimer: I’m own about $500K in my portfolio in Amazon.

As a shareholder - this is great. Not because I want to stifle competition but
because if another company was granted the patent, Amazon would be locked out.

As a general citizen, Amazon is not the issue. To me this is not a concept
that you can own a patent on. The patent system is broken. I don’t know how to
fix it other than voting.

------
nerdbaggy
I don’t think this really means much. Companies love to incentivize their
employees for coming up with patent ideas. This could very well be one of
those ideas

~~~
DVassallo
The incentives are quite soft. You get a “good job” email from your boss and
maybe your boss’s boss. But nothing else. (8 years at Amazon, and 5 granted
parents — I’m embarrassed to admit!)

They were going to be useful for my immigration visa renewal though. My L1
renewal got stuck with a request for evidence, and the lawyers thought that
patents are excellent evidence of outstanding ability to the eyes of the gov.
Eventually I got my green card before my L1 evidence got processed, so I
didn’t get to see if that would have helped.

~~~
nerdbaggy
Didn’t realize they incentivized it so little. I know that Cisco gives you a
few thousand once the patent is approved.

