

EFF asks: Who's flying unmanned aircraft in the US? - codezero
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/who-flying-unmanned-aircraft-us

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ck2
Predator Drones are being used against Americans domestically:

[http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/la-na-drone-
arrest-20111211...](http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/la-na-drone-
arrest-20111211,0,5744305,full.story)

Why is this not being questioned every single day in the news? Or on the floor
of congress for that matter?

They found a loophole to putting cameras on every streetlight in the USA and
pointing them at your front door - they will just keep them flying higher up
with better optics.

Oh and it's warrantless too btw, no judicial review.

The future of America - warrantless searches at airports, train and bus
stations, warrantless gps trackers on your car, warrantless cellphone
tracking, warrantless email backdoors and warrantless drone spying on anyone
domestically.

Nah the police would never abuse this and never use the millions in their
endless "homeland security theater" budgets to get their own drones for every
major city.

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GHFigs
How do you feel about police helicopters?

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brown9-2
At first glance, it would seem flying a Predator over someone's property to do
surveillance like in this article would be very, very similar to flying a
police helicopter with similar thermal imaging systems.

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rdtsc
I want to know how to disrupt their operation or take them down. It seems
people will not take action against a police cruiser for example, but I see
less opposition to zapping buzzing cameras flying around.

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jerfelix
I envision a day where an xbox game is being played by unsuspecting gamers,
and "consensus guidance" is used to fly drones.

Gamers may be the most trained drone pilots. Remote killing could be free of
post-trauma-stress-disorder, as the pimple-faced teen was cluelessly bombing
the enemy.

Hmmmmm.....

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smutticus
Apparently pilots flying remote drones suffer worse from PTSD than those
pilots flying conventional aircraft.

[http://www.military.com/news/article/predator-pilots-
sufferi...](http://www.military.com/news/article/predator-pilots-suffering-
war-stress.html)

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Nick_C
I wonder what AOPA's stance is. On the face of it, unmanned aircraft don't
seem able to comply with VFR's see-and-avoid.

I'm not saying it isn't possible, just that it seems problematic with current
airspace and flight rules and light aircraft in busy space, which is just the
sort of environment where police would want to operate these aircraft.

[edit] It seems the FAA issue a TSA on every launch, which AOPA opposes.

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kokey
Ah, interesting to note it only has to be certified if it flies over 400 feet.
That means lots of DIY and personal drones are still ok, for now. I see this
changing in the future, because of a long list of potential criminal
applications for UAV drones there will probably be a push towards stricter
licensing.

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jonnycowboy
They neglect to mention the below-400 foot limitation only applies to non-
commercial use. For commercial use there is no such 'freezone'.

Of course, for governmental agency use, no FAA authorization applies.

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jpadkins
Does fly RC planes count? Because lots of people fly unmanned remote
controlled planes as a hobby...

