Privacy - Drones

[considerations]

Although there is some sensationalism in this article, the fact remains that things are changing in the country, and IMO not for the better.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134376/Is-drone-neighbourhood-Rise-killer-spy-planes-exposed-FAA-forced-reveal-63-launch-sites-U-S.html

[waggin]

Predators are already in use by (or at least for) local police jurisdictions.  Remember the North Dakota case where a sheriff's deputy looking for some missing cows was chased off a property by men carrying rifles?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2073248/Local-cops-used-Predator-drone-arrest-North-Dakota-farm-family-stealing-6-cows.html
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/thinking-tech/police-use-military-drones-to-arrest-us-citizens/9468
http://www.totalcriminaldefense.com/blog/2011/12/21/police-use-predator-drones-to-find-cattle-thieves-in-north-dakota/
http://www.prisonplanet.com/first-man-arrested-with-drone-evidence-vows-to-fight-case.html

Lots of links are available from a web search (which is what I did), and I hope I have enough here to avoid appearance and inference of any ideological bent.

[considerations]

Still give me the willies.  Next TV's will have cameras and data will flow both ways.  Brave New World creeps closer and closer.

[Windpower]

The FAA is planning for 30,000 drone flights in the US per year.

Most of us pilots are not very happy about this for many reasons

Fight back-- make your own surveillance drone

I have one started -- ordering parts now

http://aeroquad.com/content.php


BTW the Arduino micro controller is what makes these things fly. Some are fully automated with a GPS navigation system.

I have 2 Arduinos I have been working with -- these microcontrollers will revolutionize the future IMO

for less than the cost of a cell phone and some rather simple programing normal folks can automate almost anything you can think of

Here is the Home page -- this is all open source -- that means anyone can build or duplicate any part of the processor, likewise the source code (programming) is open

http://arduino.cc/en/

Think of the thousands of highly educated programmers and Electrical engineers that are unemployed  or just out of school looking for something to use their education on

These microcontrollers will have a much bigger impact on society than PC's or cell phones

The Arduino forum has over 70,000 (I just checked again since March 14, 2012 the membership has grown to 101,000) around the world

[peternap]

I'm using two AR drones for aerial photography Windpower.

[Squirl]

I'm not a fan of government aerial surveillance, but how is this different than if there is a human pilot?

A human being can and has been doing all of these same things for years.   I thought in California they have a whole channel devoted to aerial police chases?  So rather than a person on the ground directing a person where to fly a plane with a camera (google maps anyone), there is not a pilot. Other than some unemployed pilots, how different is this?

[MountainDon]

Other than the fact that there will likely be more "eyes" because of the low cost of a drone compared to a man in an aircraft, no difference.

[MikeC]

Maybe the difference is that a drone can fly into your backyard, undetected?  Or through your barn? Or open house windows?

Can precisely deliver a payload of whatever - evidence for example, whenever?

[Windpower]

I did not know that, Peter

did you build them yourself -- do they have GPS ?

I would be interested in more info on your quads as I hope to start building mine soon

I have 4 outrunners and four 30 Amp ESC's on order (from Hong Kong thru Ebay *crossing fingers for good luck*)--

I may just order a frame kit from AeroQuad -- although the AQ frame has some obvious short commings it would be a big time saver

got any pics Peter ?

[peternap]

I didn't build them. I have to rebuild them all the time (They crash ).
I may have some pics I can put up. The neat thing about these is that I control them with my Android phone or Tablet. they move with the Tablet. I lean it left, the drone moves left, right, up down....and I can watch my flight on the screen.

I did put a GPS on one but rarely look at it. These are great for sneaking up on the cops during protests. I can get close up video and audio of them and later watch the reaction when they claim they didn't.

[Don_P]

What frequency do they run on? In other words can someone get a heads up with an appropriately tuned scanner... or give a heads up with an appropriately tuned transmission?

[Windpower]

Interesting about the android phone and tablet control, Peter

I am thinking an autonomous gps controlled one would crash less

I have seen some amazing demos of this

I like the idea of filming protests etc with these -- how long before they make them illegal ?

But then of course they would have to find out who and where they were

[peternap]

What frequency do they run on? In other words can someone get a heads up with an appropriately tuned scanner... or give a heads up with an appropriately tuned transmission?

If you're talking about mine Don, they're on WiFi and yes, it s possible to intercept and take over control.

WindPower These do have auto flight ability and the FAA has already made it illegal to use commercially..so I don't charge for aerials anymore....I just add them to the finished video as a freebie 

[Windpower]

Near mid-air collision over Denver with drone.

http://12160.info/forum/topics/spy-drone-almost-causes-mid-air-collision-with-jet-over-denver

[Windpower]

about 15 miles south of where I sit, early May 2012


[embed=425,349]http://youtu.be/QzrS0BVJynM[/embed]

[Windpower]

@6:30 "this is a civilian car here in New Mexico..... they do not know we can see them"

[embed=425,349]http://youtu.be/ZuW02KLlwsE[/embed]