On the other hand, law enforcement and the Obama administration made much the same argument last year, in a case about using GPS devices to monitor a suspect’s movements over an extended period of time. Supporters of GPS tracking contended that it was no different from putting a tail on somebody. The Justices rejected that argument 9-0.
This part of the article is intellectually dishonest. The Justices did not reject the use of GPS tracking. They rejected the use of it without first obtaining a search warrant from a court and I have no problem with that.
As I have stated on other threads today - technology is neither good nor bad. It is what we do with the technology that counts. If a drone can locate a missing hiker and save their life it is good. If a drone is used on the border to stop drug runners or illegals most people consider that good. If a drone is used to find violations by a farmer for a regulated activity most people think that is bad. If a drone is used to enforce the speed limit on the interstate most people would not like it.
The march of technology is not something that can be stopped and it has the capacity for good and evil depending on how it is used. The use of technology by government is decided by congress, the administration, and ultimately the final decision lies with our courts. This is why we must work tirelessly to have a government that respects freedom unlike the current regime that wants control. The technology for a despotic police state already exists. The desire to use technology like that is present in the current administration and many rats in congress. Luckily, the courts and GOP minority in government are strongly opposed. ABO so he does not get the swing votes on the court for stuff like this because these new technologies are currently decided by a court that is one vote away from implementing the full progressive agenda.
This was briefly discussed on a previous thread -
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2892977/posts
The potential biblical prophecy ramifactions for those interested were mentioned on -
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2893568/posts
Do not count on Republicans to be on the side of freedom when it comes to privacy issues. Just last week two Republican legislators in New York were promoting a bill to end anonymous posting on the internet.
"Some drones are in domestic use already. The EPA has been using them to overfly farms in Nebraska and Iowa to look for any possible violations of the Clean Water Act. Does the agency have any probable cause to conduct such searches? No. The dragnet surveillance violates the Fourth Amendment, but it is being carried out with impunity."
Did you get distracted and miss that?
Hmmm...Even a cursory reading of history will show that governments have tended to use "technologies" for "evil" more often than not.
Excluding the Constitutionally mandated responsibility for the Nation's defense on the battlefield, since the 1990's, the U.S. government's use of technology has been directed primarily to setting the tyranny that is enveloping us in cement.
Excluding any opportunities offered by 99942 Apophis, the next 1000 years will be the darkest in mankind's history.