Here come the drones
As I’ve discussed periodically, we are starting to have drone creep, the process of slowly introducing drones into domestic airspace, all for your own protection. Why? Because it will be an inexpensive way to keep track of American citizens, search for people and spy on the public using facial recognition technology. Everything you do can be recorded, indexed and stored for future use.
I know, as my company sells what are known as SANs, Storage Area Networks to the public sector. They are giant centralized storage devices that allow blindingly fast access to “big” data. They will be used to store information on the public using surveillance and, I doubt, never deleted.
It will also be a great revenue source for local authorities to give out tickets, as the drone cameras will be able to read license plates and calculate speeds. They need the money. You can read about it here.
It will likely be welcomed by the public as local government will claim that police officers will keep the public safer as they won’t have to spend time giving out tickets, and that a portion of the money will go to the schools. Although the public will welcome new laws to allow this, they will change their minds after they are targeted by the drones.
I don’t think that anybody keeps to all of the speed limits, except for me of course. It will be too late for the public to object. Bills are passed into law are a one-way street. That’s why we have so many laws on the books, most not enforced. Politicians don’t get reelected by removing laws on the books, only passing repetitive, overlapping new ones.
This will be a slow process in the beginning, the process of softening up the public until it’s accepted as the new normal. The next new normal, always for our own protection, will be to arm the drones. As the L.A Times reported, they estimate that in seven years, 10,000 drones will be operating in our skies.
As you may remember the police in the Big Bear region of Southern California cornered Christopher Dorner, the rogue ex-L.A. police officer, in a mountain cabin where he was hiding. The police were at risk as Dorner was well trained by both the military and the police, and actually killed one officer during the brief house siege.
If our government had armed drones flying over us before this situation, the police could have called in a drone. It could have easily fire a missile or other lethal device through the window. It will all be justified as reasonable, as a way to protect the public.
The small ShadowHawk drone already has these features, including having 40mm grenade launchers and full and semi-automatic small arms weapons.
The next step will be to have completely automated drones, so that no one will be responsible or accountable when an innocent person is injured or killed. Automated drones are being tested by the U.S. Navy. The word “accountable” is thrown around a lot to give the impression that someone will be punished. When applied to government actions, it means nothing at all.
It will be accepted by the public and our freedoms and liberties will continue to diminish. We’re on a slippery slope and picking up speed.
Editor’s note: On March 6th. the Attorney General, Eric Holder said that our government may drone U.S. citizens inside of our borders under extraordinary circumstances. He doesn’t define the word “extraordinary.” It will mean anything our government wants it to mean. A journey starts with a single step. That step has been taken.
