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America's police state: The drones are coming
Pittsburgh live.com ^ | February 10, 2012

Posted on 02/10/2012 8:31:56 AM PST by KeyLargo

America's police state: The drones are coming

Friday, February 10, 2012

A new federal law accelerating domestic use of government aerial surveillance drones brings America frighteningly close to an Orwellian police state.

President Obama is expected to sign the FAA Reauthorization Act, which expedites approval for federal, state and local police to use these drones. The Federal Aviation Administration's existing case-by-case approach is chilling enough -- it's being sued over its refusal to disclose publicly which agencies use drones and how they're used.

Still, it's known that the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection arm uses drones domestically. Now imagine local police drones constantly, unblinkingly tracking -- without warrants -- your every move and aspect of your property.

Far-fetched? Hardly. Great Britain right now is testing the use of drones to enforce government-subsidized agricultural policies. If successful, drones will replace satellite surveillance. The French government already monitors wine producers with drones.

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


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 4thamendment; bothparties; congress; dontspyonme; donttreadonme; drones; govtabuse; moneyturnedonus; nwo; obama; ourmoney; policestate; surveillance; taxdollars; tyranny
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To: KeyLargo

May good for a little skeet shooting. What I don’t like is red light cameras. Because running a light is all I ever do wrong.


21 posted on 02/10/2012 9:02:47 AM PST by goseminoles
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To: B Knotts

22 posted on 02/10/2012 9:03:10 AM PST by KeyLargo
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To: Lakeshark

Drone to monitor Ava’s gas consumption ping!


23 posted on 02/10/2012 9:04:30 AM PST by Borax Queen
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To: KeyLargo
Just wait until Anonymous hacks one of these and flies it full throttle into a politician in Times Square.
24 posted on 02/10/2012 9:12:16 AM PST by Navy Patriot (Join the Democrats, it's not Fascism when WE do it. (plagiarized))
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To: Navy Patriot

“-—whether a drone is operating under its own programming or being remotely piloted by a human, they are open to receive control commands. The possibility of drones being hacked is very real, and some claim that the recent capture of an RQ-170 spy drone in Iran was accomplished through such hijacking techniques. Whether or not that’s the case, UAVs are clearly susceptible to inflight theft in ways that manned vehicles simply are not.”

http://singularityhub.com/2012/02/09/the-era-of-robotic-warfare-has-arrived-30-of-all-us-military-aircraft-are-drones/


25 posted on 02/10/2012 9:16:49 AM PST by KeyLargo
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To: KeyLargo

My local community many years ago decided it needed helicopters because helicopters for the police were the latest police fad. After several years of considerable expense they decided that they accomplished nothing except catch petty crime and disposed of them. The humor in this will be the police videos of them using their new drone toy to follow a drunk staggering down the road, or the videos of the rooftop angle of the outside of a house some idiot has locked himself in with a gun. I can see the headlines now, “Truant Schoolboy Caught Lying Under Tree!”. The television news will treat these with great gravity and the Internet will be filled with humorous videos, it will be a cosmic farce at the expense of the taxpayer. The intrusion upon and erosion of our freedoms has happened while everybody wasn’t looking this is just another thing on the pile. I think if anybody has looked at the satellite image of their house on Google, been caught by a traffic camera or found out about people on their computer the loss of privacy and freedom becomes apparent.


26 posted on 02/10/2012 9:17:49 AM PST by dog breath
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To: dog breath

Quinn signs Emanuel speed cameras bill into law

Gov. Pat Quinn

Gov. Pat Quinn (Heather Charles/ Chicago Tribune)
February 06, 2012|By Monique Garcia | Clout Street

Gov. Pat Quinn signed a measure into law today that allows Mayor Rahm Emanuel to start using red light cameras to fine speeding drivers as much as $100 for violations.

“I think that you’ve got to understand that if you save even one life, you are saving the whole world,” Quinn said at a morning event at a Chicago school. “I mean, what do you say to a parent that’s been there from the day their son or daughter was born, and they’re killed by a speeding motorist next to their school, or their park?”

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-02-06/news/chi-quinn-signs-emanuel-speed-cameras-bill-into-law-20120206_1_speed-cameras-red-light-cameras-school-zones


27 posted on 02/10/2012 9:21:34 AM PST by KeyLargo
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To: KeyLargo
Whenever somebody starts talking about how they are going to help you by doing something wonderful, be particularly careful not to drop the soap in front of them.
28 posted on 02/10/2012 9:40:20 AM PST by dog breath
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To: KeyLargo
This consequence of technology was obvious 20 years ago. Good thing government in general is so stupid or this would already be the usual.

It's long past high time to set up a good 4th Amendment case to deal with aerial surveillance by local government.

29 posted on 02/10/2012 9:43:43 AM PST by Carry_Okie (There has not been a conservative American government for 90 years.)
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To: dog breath

Congress Demands Drones Over America

States News Service Source: States News Service
Created: February 10, 2012

The following information was released by the Center for Democracy & Technology:

by Harley Geiger
February 9, 2012

Congress is demanding drones in the air over the United States - without considering the civil liberties issues. Within the span of three days last week, the House and then the Senate passed a law - H.R. 658 - requiring the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to speed up, within 90 days, its current licensing process for government use of drones domestically and to open the national airspace to drone aircraft for commercial and private use by October 2015. While the law requires the FAA to develop guidance on drone safety, the law says absolutely nothing about the privacy or transparency implications of filling the sky with flying robots.

Read at:

http://www.aviationpros.com/news/106...AVVDB120204002


30 posted on 02/10/2012 10:02:20 AM PST by KeyLargo
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To: KeyLargo

They may come but find many people aren’t home anymore.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2481992/posts?page=1


31 posted on 02/10/2012 10:03:09 AM PST by mojitojoe (SCOTUS.... think about that when you decide to sit home and pout because your candidate didn't win)
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To: KeyLargo

You can bet your ass that local jurisdictions will be outfitting these things with radar, and mailing out speeding tickets!


32 posted on 02/10/2012 10:20:10 AM PST by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: KeyLargo

Lets give a shout out to all the good republicrats who voted this POS bill through the House.


33 posted on 02/10/2012 10:54:24 AM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: KeyLargo; All

Got a theory...More like an observation...

You get these “mini” drones,hovering all about looking, peeking about, and you’d think that some people like us who value their privacy could just git yer shotgun or riffle and take these particular intruders out and the problem would be gone...

Well, I got to thinkun’...If they have these flitting about, they are closer to you than you’d think...A shopping mall parking lot, or other open area secured for this purpose to launch and recover these devices...

So, if you manage to take one out (which seems to be an underlying thought for some people) who’s to say they are even watching “you”, and you just shot one down...Oops...Now the heat is on you if they manage to ID you as the shooter...

Not that I am trying to throw a bucket of ice water on any of this...But it seems it is too late if you are even minding your own business, that you happen to notice one of these things, that it might not be you they are surveiling, or maybe it is...At this point they are close and probably ready to bounce on you in a moments notice or excuse...

Which brings me to another subject...

How do you spoof these things???

- overpasses
- covered parking garages
- tunnels
- carry a pre-paid cell phone, and call only a number no one else would know about for just such an occasion...

Some people would say that is illegal or somewhat dubious, and IF you have nothing to hide, no one should mind being under such surveillance...

Well, my response is this...

You certainly may or should not be doing anything illegal, and you certainly may or should not have anything to hide...

But you damn sure have everything to protect, and that IS your right to protect your privacy (with any means at your disposal, and personal comfort level), even though you may be in a public place or forum...Where this may, or may not be deployed for their use...

Just putting a twist in the discussion...


34 posted on 02/10/2012 11:01:44 AM PST by stevie_d_64 (I'm jus' sayin')
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To: KeyLargo
Shock Docs: Total Federalization of Police Under New Homeland Security Mission

Crafted by the Aspen Institute Homeland Security Group, co-chaired by former DHS chief Michael Chertoff and composed of a who’s who of national security figures, the report outlines a total mission creep, as the title “Homeland Security and Intelligence: Next Steps in Evolving the Mission” implies.

Significantly, it puts on paper and into the Congressional record a proposed transition from outwardly dealing with the threats posed by terrorism towards intelligence gathering “focused on more specific homeward-focused areas.” That is, the homegrown, domestic threats we’ve heard so much about from Big Sis already.

In short, it confirms the intentions of key insiders– including former NSA/CIA head Michael Hayden, former Rep. Jane Harmon, former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, 9/11 Commissioners Philip Zelikow and Richard Ben-Viniste, former National Security Advisor Samuel Berger and others– to flesh out a plan we have already seen developing from an outside perspective– namely, to build a domestic Stasi-like force to takeover, monitor and control the population.

35 posted on 02/10/2012 11:39:56 AM PST by opentalk
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To: taildragger
Australia is looking for 400,000 Scott's to immigrate...

I wonder if they would take a couple of us Freepers.

Every day it is feeling more and more likes "It's Over"...

Remember when their liberal government rammed through their own gun ban law? Large bore PVC pipe disappeared from DIY stores nation wide. Australia has it's share of liberal zealots more than willing to supervise your life for you...

Regards,
GtG

36 posted on 02/10/2012 11:47:20 AM PST by Gandalf_The_Gray (I live in my own little world, I like it 'cuz they know me here.)
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To: KeyLargo

James O’Keefe needs some drones to keep an eye on Congressmen and their trips to their drug dealers and mistresses.


37 posted on 02/10/2012 11:51:15 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Borax Queen

Ha, Ava has a cloaking device that makes it look like a Prius to all drones......


38 posted on 02/10/2012 12:14:29 PM PST by Lakeshark (NbIttoalbl,cRwIdtaa)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

Votes are here:

House Vote on Conference Report: H.R. 658: FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act

Vote Details by representative:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2012-33


39 posted on 02/10/2012 12:44:04 PM PST by KeyLargo
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To: KoRn
You can bet your ass that local jurisdictions will be outfitting these things with radar, and mailing out speeding tickets!

Won't work, Doppler shift radars measure the "vector" speed of a target as it approaches the radar gun. The angle between the path of the vehicle and the axis of the radar beam, "Θ", is near zero when the target vehicle is at maximum range and the radar gun is at the same altitude as the target. The indicated speed is the actual speed multiplied by cosine (Θ), so at the point where the target is approaching nearly head on you get an actual reading close to correct. As the target approaches and passes the radar the reading falls to zero and then goes negative (Cosine (Θ) = 1 at 0°, goes to 0 at 90°, and -1 at 180°). The radar is measuring the component of target velocity relative to the radar beam. When the angle is near 90° the target is not approaching the radar (it's moving sideways) and the result is a zero reading. As the target passes it is moving away from the radar and the indicated speed goes negative as it should.

When you move the radar to a drone, you have to factor in the operational altitude as well as the speed and direction of the drone as it effects the vector solution. Far from holding a hand held radar gun at the same altitude as the target, a moving platform measuring relative velocity to a ground target also moving requires knowing exactly where the drone is (GPS??) in three dimensional space, a vector track of the target (not Doppler) allowing the calculation of a solution vector of the actual target velocity in three dimensional space. That means; more elaborate radar, GPS linkage, hardwired computational support, and a lock-on targeting laser (everything except the "mini gun").

Regards,
GtG

40 posted on 02/10/2012 1:20:25 PM PST by Gandalf_The_Gray (I live in my own little world, I like it 'cuz they know me here.)
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