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Drones over U.S. get OK by Congress
The Washington Times ^ | Tuesday, February 7, 2012 | By Shaun Waterman

Posted on 02/08/2012 7:28:31 PM PST by Mier

Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s … a drone, and it’s watching you. That’s what privacy advocates fear from a bill Congress passed this week to make it easier for the government to fly unmanned spy planes in U.S. airspace.

The FAA Reauthorization Act, which President Obama is expected to sign, also orders the Federal Aviation Administration to develop regulations for the testing and licensing of commercial drones by 2015.

Privacy advocates say the measure will lead to widespread use of drones for electronic surveillance by police agencies across the country and eventually by private companies as well.

“There are serious policy questions on the horizon about privacy and surveillance, by both government agencies and commercial entities,” said Steven Aftergood, who heads the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Society
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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/7/coming-to-a-sky-near-you/
1 posted on 02/08/2012 7:28:36 PM PST by Mier
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To: Mier

All is well! There is nothing to fear! Only the guilty need worry! /sarcasm (really necessary?)


2 posted on 02/08/2012 7:33:23 PM PST by Freedom_Fighter_2001
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To: Freedom_Fighter_2001

BUT YOU ALL LOOK GUILTY FROM 15000 FEET

so saith SKYNET


3 posted on 02/08/2012 7:35:05 PM PST by Freedom_Fighter_2001
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To: Mier

Green drones will be subsidized by the Government. They will help stimulate the economy and create jobs!!


4 posted on 02/08/2012 7:41:27 PM PST by FishinTX (Barak Obama HATES you.)
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To: Mier

Chilly Skies over Amerika

Remember, if you whine and moan,
The Government may answer with a Drone.


5 posted on 02/08/2012 7:44:02 PM PST by Graewoulf (( obama"care" violates the 1890 Sherman Anti-Trust Law, AND is illegal by the U.S. Constitution.))
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To: Mier
The new model of drone is pretty cool.

What's the worst that could happen?
6 posted on 02/08/2012 7:46:34 PM PST by mnehring
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To: Mier

Aren’t these drones a threat to general aviation?


7 posted on 02/08/2012 7:48:36 PM PST by july4thfreedomfoundation (I'm NOT smitten' with Mittens)
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To: Mier

Hellfire missiles and damnation coming to an American terrorist near you!


8 posted on 02/08/2012 7:53:52 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Mier

Hellfire missiles and damnation coming to an American terrorist like you!


9 posted on 02/08/2012 7:54:12 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: july4thfreedomfoundation

Probably not.

For civilian surveillance, they probably fly under a thousand feet. That’s only as high as some city skyscrapers.


10 posted on 02/08/2012 8:00:11 PM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults.)
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To: july4thfreedomfoundation

Most of these drones would probably be flown away from general/controlled traffic.


11 posted on 02/08/2012 8:12:36 PM PST by U-238
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To: mnehring

What’s the worst? An air to ground missile.


12 posted on 02/08/2012 8:13:17 PM PST by pankot
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To: Mier

We could use them to get a gross in-out body count at inner city polling places, the ones with 99% turnout.


13 posted on 02/08/2012 8:16:41 PM PST by DBrow
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To: Mier

Similar thread

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2843949/posts?page=15#15
Excerpt:

I have just looked over the Senate version and here is the passage - Under Title VI: Aviation Research

(Sec. 607) Authorizes the FAA Administrator to: (1) arrange with the NAS to assess unmanned aircraft systems; and (2) establish three two-year cost-shared pilot projects in sparsely populated, low-density Class G air traffic airspace new test sites to conduct developmental work and service testing to improve unmanned aircraft for safe integration into the National Airspace System. Authorizes appropriations for FY2010-FY2011.

Directs the FAA Administrator to make available on the FAA’s website a five-year “roadmap” for introduction of unmanned aircraft systems into the National Airspace System.

You would not believe the scope of this thing - the sole purpose of this piece of legislation is to grow the Government and to do it fast, while providing special exemptions for special people who promised to vote for it if they “got theirs”.


14 posted on 02/08/2012 8:35:23 PM PST by Whenifhow
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To: mnehring

Why would congress allow that?

Perhaps we need to consider some unintended consequences.... I could foresee drug cartels mimicking drones for drug deliveries. I mean, if there are 30,000 of them, who would think anything?

Or worse, the bureaucrat that chooses to stalk their civilian target - high tech style.

Also, I believe it would then be necessary to cover my bedroom sky lights, and cover the upper windows if my bedroom, lest my amorous antics go viral?

I can already see the headlines and the taxpayer-funded settlement payouts.


15 posted on 02/08/2012 8:41:09 PM PST by Bshaw (A nefarious deceit is upon us all!)
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To: mnehring

Why would congress allow that?

Perhaps we need to consider some unintended consequences.... I could foresee drug cartels mimicking drones for drug deliveries. I mean, if there are 30,000 of them, who would think anything?

Or worse, the bureaucrat that chooses to robo-stalk their civilian target, for offenses real or imagined.

Also, I believe it would then be necessary to cover my bedroom sky lights, and cover the upper windows of my bedroom, lest my amorous antics go viral.

I can already see the headlines and the taxpayer-funded settlement payouts.


16 posted on 02/08/2012 8:44:42 PM PST by Bshaw (A nefarious deceit is upon us all!)
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To: Bshaw

But I repeat myself!


17 posted on 02/08/2012 8:46:42 PM PST by Bshaw (A nefarious deceit is upon us all!)
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To: Mier
Privacy advocates say the measure will lead to widespread use of drones for electronic surveillance by police agencies across the country

What possible justification can there be for this? There is no massive crime wave sweeping the nation - in fact the crime rate is the same as it was 40 years ago. And the murder rate is the lowest it's been since the Kennedy administration.

Police departments are like any other government bureaucracy - they seek relentlessly to expand their power, reach and budget. In the case of big city police departments, that apparently involves buying military equipment and using it against US citizens.
18 posted on 02/08/2012 9:12:28 PM PST by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: AnotherUnixGeek

Right, but I’ll bet the main focus of these will be used by your county department of development or whatever it’s called to monitor environmental issues like they currently use the GIS system for. We have a city in my county that uses GIS technology to make sure you don’t cut down any blackberry bushes or other vegetation without first getting your Mother May I request approved or have paid the proper permitting fees.

I can see many of these being launched and shot out of the air by homeowners.


19 posted on 02/08/2012 9:19:46 PM PST by bigfootbob
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To: Mier

We should never have let them start treating us like terrorists.


20 posted on 02/08/2012 9:32:26 PM PST by pallis
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