Tag Archives: Federal Aviation Administration

Video: Drones Arrive in Austin

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
August 10, 2012

Nationwide, the surveillance drone rollout is causing a stir and heads to turn as government, flush with an endless supply of taxpayer money, rapidly introduces the technology. “Some are as large and fast as commercial airplanes,” Scientific American wrote in January. “Some are blimps that sit in the sky, surveying broad swaths of territory. Others flit around imperceptibly, like birds or insects, recording videos and landing themselves.”

 

During his morning commute in Austin, Texas, Alex Jones noticed the kind of drone favored by police about 120 feet above the roadway. Traffic slowed, backed up and pulled off the road to see what appeared to be a UFO as the small helicopter-like machine circled overhead photographing traffic. A contract worker for the highway department stood to one side of the road maneuvering the machine with a handheld control box.

With his iPhone video camera running, Alex engaged the pilot in friendly conversation. He mentioned a number of disturbing events, including the ominous prospect of police outfitting the devices with weapons and the EPA spying on cattle ranchers in Nebraska and Iowa. Alex also mentioned the unnerving experience of journalist and publisher Joseph Farah, an outspoken Obama critic, who was the victim of drone surveillance at his remote home in northern Virginia.

The drone pilot defended the increased usage of the machines. He seemed genuinely flummoxed by the Big Brother aspects mentioned by Jones. He innocently compared the surveillance capabilities of drones to that of Google Map’s satellite imagery and said there are currently around five of the devices being used in Austin. The man explained to Alex that the drone was being used to video tape miles of roadway.

Alex’s impromptu roadside video underscores how drones originally developed for offensive military use are now finding their way into mundane domestic situations, thus lowering our natural resistance to their intrusive presence and acclimating the populace to the increased use of the devices by government and corporations alike.

Fifty years ago, the idea of militarized police driving around in armored vehicles in full battle apparel was almost unthinkable. Now it is commonplace and readily accepted as necessary, thanks to years of incessant propaganda following the 9/11 attacks.

The same process is at work as aerial drones are introduced. In a few short years, drone technology will be accepted as a normal aspect of local law enforcement and will be used without question for assorted business applications. The FAA is working behind the scenes to open our government regulated skies to their obtrusive presence.

Moreover, the headlong rush into automated technology contains a dark and menacing underside. Not only are government and military developing and implementing the technology devoid of human supervision and interaction – on the battlefield and beyond – but the prospect of “trans-humanism” and its perverted obsession with genetics, robotics, artificial intelligence and nanotechnology also poses a threat to humanity.

Alex’s roadside interaction with the drone pilot is a macrocosm view of a threat only dimly understood prior to the advent of the microchip and cheaply mass-produced electronics. In the months and years ahead – if the trend now underway continues – we will face a dystopian nightmare harrowingly foretold by George Orwell and Philip K. Dick as government employs ever more sophisticated technology to monitor, track and ultimately control our every move.

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Air Force Document: Drones Can Be Used To Spy On Americans

“Incidental” surveillance data can be held for 90 days

Steve Watson
Infowars.com
May 11, 2012


A newly discovered Air Force intelligence brief states that should fleets of unmanned drones accidentally capture surveillance footage of Americans, the data can be stored and analyzed by the Pentagon for up to 90 days.

The instruction, dated April 23, admits that the Air Force cannot legally conduct “nonconsensual surveillance” on Americans, but also states that should the drones”incidentally” capture data while conducting other missions, military intelligence has the right to study it to determine whether the subjects are legitimate targets of domestic surveillance.

“Collected imagery may incidentally include US persons or private property without consent,” the instruction states.

The Air Force can take advantage of “a period not to exceed 90 days” to use the data to assess “whether that information may be collected under the provisions of Procedure 2, DoD 5240.1-R and permanently retained under the provisions of Procedure 3, DoD 5240.1-R.” it continues.

The Pentagon directives cited authorize limited domestic spying in certain scenarios such as natural disasters, environmental cases, and monitoring activity around military bases.

Should the drones capture data on Americans, the Air Force says that it should determine whether they are, among other things, “persons or organizations reasonably believed to be engaged or about to engage, in international terrorist or international narcotics activities.”

The instruction also states that the Pentagon can disseminate the data to other intelligence and government agencies, should it see fit.

“Even though information may not be collectible, it may be retained for the length of time necessary to transfer it to another DoD entity or government agency to whose function it pertains.” the document reads.

The document was discovered by Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists.

As we reported in February, Over 30 prominent watchdog groups have banded together to petition the FAA on the proposed increase in the use of drones in US airspace.

The groups, including The American Civil Liberties Union, The Electronic Privacy Information Center and The Bill of Rights Defense Committee, are demanding that the FAA hold a rulemaking session to consider the privacy and safety threats.

Congress recently passed legislation paving the way for what the FAA predicts will be somewhere in the region of 30,000 drones in operation in US skies by 2020.

The ACLU noted that the FAA’s legislation “would push the nation willy-nilly toward an era of aerial surveillance without any steps to protect the traditional privacy that Americans have always enjoyed and expected.”

In addition to privacy concerns, the groups warned that the ability to link facial recognition technology to surveillance drones and patch the information through to active government databases would “increase the First Amendment risks for would be political dissidents.”

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Drones, lives and liberties

Presforactivism.com
26/03/12

 

AS holidaymakers lie on the beach at Queensland’s North Stradbroke Island this Easter, they may be startled to see a miniature plane flying low over them.

With a wingspan of only 1m, the machine will look like a remote-control toy from someone’s Santa sack. Only the yellow and red livery will give a hint that the little drone carries on its wings the hopes of surf lifesavers around the nation.

“It will be our new eye in the sky,” says Brett Williamson, chief executive of Surf Lifesaving Australia. “It may help us to spot somebody who’s in trouble in the water, or someone who is walking into a rip or even help us spot sharks. Any tool that could potentially help us save more lives is definitely worth exploring.”

The potential for so-called unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to fly across unpatrolled beaches, relaying vision in real time to a lifesaver with a laptop, is sending ripples of excitement through the surf lifesaving community.

 

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