by Staff
Small airborne drones modeled after birds, mosquitos and other insect types are in the planning stage, a new age of surveillance devices
that can hide in plain sight for crowd control, tracking criminal
suspects and surveilling political protests. As early as 2008 military
engineers were already experimenting with the design of insect size
drones which can fly and spy on enemies without human risk.
The military wants smarter UAVs capable of navigating interior spaces autonomously, i.e. without GPS or remote control. There is strong interest in developing small drones capable of spying virtually anywhere. "The picture shown in the story is not a real robot mosquito drone, but simply one such proposed ‘prototype’ that
may become reality in future, and perhaps they will also be able to
take photographs and DNA samples of people. But as of now, these are
only speculations, and not facts in practical."
Is this a mosquito? No. It's a proposed insect spy drone
for urban areas, already in production, funded by the US Government. It
is planned for remote controll and equipped with a camera and a
microphone. It can land on you, and it may have the potential to take a
DNA sample or leave RFID tracking nanotechnology on your skin. It can
fly through an open window, or it can attach to your clothing until you
take it in your home. Given their propensity to request macro-sized
drones for surveillance, one is left with little doubt that police and
military may look into these gadgets next. (And to think we were
worried about West Nile virus!)
And now you know why our government has requested the law be changed to allow drone surveillance in the United States.
The National Defense Authrization Act (NDAA) permits the President
to authorize the killing of a citizen anywhere in the world. There is little oversight or laws governing the use of drones, how much less protection would there be for drones you can't readily see?. The ithreat to individual liberty is significant if such devices ever enter into mass production.
If histtory is any indication,, the term 'enemies' will ultimately
be defined to include unwarranted surveiilance of all who resist the
totatlitarian reach of the state.