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Drug-Sniffing Drones Take To the Skies In the Netherlands
Ryan writes "Unmanned, drug-sniffing drones have been introduced in the Netherlands. They fly over houses (video), sniff for weed, and scan for grow lights. Police say they are not breaking the law because the samples can be taken without entering the building."
The Dutch tourist industry goes bankrupt.
That 911 call is absolutely hilarious. Is that for real?
I thought weed was quasi-legal in at least the city of Amsterdam.
Would the locals care to elaborate on the incongruity of thought that I am currently experiencing?
Kid-proof tablet..
This is sure to result in another Norse invasion of Europe just to "get away from that buzzing sound, man!"
It's just what we needed: Thousands of stoned, paranoid Norsemen looking at each going "Did you hear something, man? I thought I heard something! Look out the window, in the sky!"
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I'm guessing you're not from Europe...
If anti-drug drones become a standard part of the "war on drugs" - the US military is going to pay the price.
The drug lords make tens of billions of dollars each year. If drones start to significantly hurt their business, they will invest in the development of anti-drone technology. Once invented, it can't be un-invented and it isn't like its going to be stamped top-secret and kept in a scif either - it will spread to anyone who thinks they need to protect themselves from drones.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Dutch citizens test Dutch lawmakers sewage water and household garbage for signs of drugs or illegal activity. Citizens say they are not breaking the law because the samples can be taken without entering the building.
Quack, quack.
Ah, someone that speaks from experience.
I guess if the rest of the world had a problem with potatoes you'd fawn over the "sensibility" of regulating and taxing potatoes and only allowing people to own potatoes in small amounts, right?
I could presume you are one of the enlightened folk who are against taxation? I'd prefer potatoes to be illegal so that I can buy them on the black market tax free.
cops everywhere must be pissed...
Perfect timing! I was just about to launch my newest product line. Chimney sized fabric softener sheets!
Do you REALLY believe this shit?
The cops can locate grow-ops FAR easier by tracking electrical usage and using infrared detectors(the heat detected is outside the house, so no warrant needed).
I think what you REALLY have is 1984 flying over your houses, and it ain't just looking for pot. It is CCTV flying around the place, nothing less. What ELSE might they be looking at?
Is that REALLY what you want your cops doing with your taxes?
Considering there is no human on board to generate a murder charge, that little fucker wouldn't last a minute over Los Angeles, but then again, we got guns.
Now the pot has met the bot!
This wouldn't fly in the USA thanks to Kyllo v. USA.
I can't vouch for the "sniffers", but in the United States similar infrared instruments have already been ruled to be illegal surveillance without a warrant.
I wonder what the range is on this thing, and in related thoughts i wonder what frequencies it uses to communicate with HQ?
1) block frequencies
2) wait for it to crash into wall
3) steal scraps
4) ???
5) profit
IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
Amsterdam (AP). Dutch intelligence services have uncovered a terror cell operating in the Dutch capital of Amsterdam. Kas Buurmeester, spokesperson of the Dutch Ministry of Inner Security announced during a press conference earlier this morning that a number of dutch citizens were apprehended outside the homes of various members of the European Parliament. The suspects displayed a keen interest in the contents of rubbish bins and in one case evidence of an attempt was uncovered to tap into the municipal sewage system, ostensibly to obtain samples of sewage from those residences. "There is not a single modus of operandi you can point to and that's how terrorists operate", so David Rosenthal, security advisor to the United Nations, "Each case is different and it really depends on the terrorist's objectives". With this in mind, tragedy may have been prevented in Amsterdam, but the population of this European metropolis looks into an uncertain and worrisome future.
Why is the world wasting so much time and energy fighting the losing battle of keeping marijuana illegal. A very large part of the population smokes it and its becoming more common everyday. The reasons its illegal are generally very silly, like what happened in the US.
Hell, I work in an office of over 75 people and I would take a guess that at least 40 of them smoke pot at least once a week. 15 or so every day. We do our jobs, we do them very well and have fun hanging out after work with each other. We are not a bunch of college kids, everyone ranges from ages 30 to 50.
Its just ridiculous that the governments are investing so many resources into bothering people who want to relax after a long day at the office. Let me live my fucking life, and you go deal with yours. Stop invading my life with your personal morals.
I doubt this technology is going to be restricted to "kingpens" and that its use is going to be limited to the Netherlands. I FORMALLY CHALLANGE slashdot contributers to come up with the a diy device that can block RF transmitters for a suitable range Without becoming a beacon for enforcement. i issue this challenge not because i do not possess the technical knowledge to do this (irrelevant), but out of love. is it out of protocol to issue a formal challenge on a first post?
I live in the Netherlands, the background to this story:
Using cannabis is considered a victimless crime and thus low priority for law enforcement. This is true for most countries in Europe, but the Netherlands is known for this because it's in the open. So, yes, it's tolerated, but this is far from unique and has little to do with government income from taxes, as someone on this thread suggested.
The national laws regarding drugs are somewhat hazy (the same with squatting). This is intentional, it gives city councils room to adapt their policies to the local situation. Some cities on the borders get thousands of drug tourists a day, which creates all kinds of problems. Maastricht has banned its coffeeshops to a `drug boulevard' outside the city, other places work with a pass system so that only locals can visit coffeeshops. Most other places don't experience such problems, so do not need such measures.
However, things have changed in the last decade. Modern designer plants literally drip with THC, the content of some weed is actually so high that it is considered hallucinogenic and thus a hard drug. Also, the growers are not old ladies or hippies anymore. It's now big business run by criminal gangs that grow for export, not just local use.
These are reasons for the police to crack down on the growers. It's also part of a political trend, the current coalition includes two christian parties. They are the parties responsible for the Netherlands joining Bush's wars. The former minister for science belongs to one of them, she kept telling universities they should look into ID, so they're quite extreme. Both parties spout rethoric about moral reconstruction of the country, they're also pushing for stiff jail sentences for squatters. City councils are against this, they tolerate squatters to make life difficult for real-estate speculators.
Concerning the drone, the police says they'll only use it if they suspect the presence of a cannabis farm. Maybe they get tipped of by electricity companies (growers rig their meters). What worries me far more than this silly drone, which seems to be mainly a deterrent, is a proposed law concerning smart meters. The ID woman is now minister of economy, and she's trying to make smart meters obligatory. Refusing to have them installed would be an economic crime, which implies high fines and even jail.
These meters send data about your minute-to-minute electricity use over the interwebtubes to your energy company, they in turn provide records to government upon request. So it just comes down to government spying, and since the meters have been hacked already, it means criminals can spy on you as well. They can then burgle your house while you're on holiday, so as not to inconvenience you too much. So it's a win-win situation. The motivation for this bill is that it will help consumers to be more energy efficient.
Most. Transparent. Excuse. Ever.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Wallen
- There are hundreds, thousands of "coffeeshops" all over Holland, where everyone over 18 is allowed to buy as much as 5 grammes hash or weed;
- As a result, selling weed is legal for coffeeshops;
- The same coffeeshops are not allowed to sell alcohol;
- Smoking tobacco is not allowed in coffeeshops, however, smoking pure hash/weed is okay. No one cares.
- The coffeeshops are *not* allowed to buy weed/hash from growers (so technically, they have to commit crimes on a daily basis to be able to stay in business)
- The police will look the other way for this so it's only illegal on paper.
- On the other hand, growing weed is prohibited, and police are actively looking for plantations, and prosecuting the owners;
- But: it is legal for anyone to grow up to 4 plants in their home, "for personal use". You cannot sell any of that.
- The dutch take pride in this confusing, schizofrenic mess, calling it "tolerant".
Yes, we're a crazy lot.
What is the greenest most low energy way of growing the stuff? Presumably insulating the roof of the premises is a good idea, and also low-energy lighting may be good, but I understand there is no escaping the need for an infra-red(heat?) component.... or is there?
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
with most of this stuff, it is not the drug that countries/governments are worried about. it is the culture that drugs generate and the crime that can be associated with it.
drugs seem to attract organized crime, and turn neighborhoods into very dangerous places. alcohol doesn't seem to attract crime, but it seems to bring out the idiot in people. i tend to think the idiot is less dangerous (in most cases)
personally, i don't do drugs. i enjoy a good drink from time to time, but i do so responsibly. but i know a lot of people who do drugs, and they are not quality people. they steal, lie & cheat their way through life. personally, i don't want that in my neighborhood.
if you would like to see what drug culture can do, visit the south-central or south-east side of a major american city (NYC, LA, St Louis, Atlanta, Chicago).
it's not the drugs i have a problem with. it is the culture that comes with them.
...or the collective shudder of Digg users everywhere?
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
This reminds me of the chocolate detector vans from Bootleg - an amusing TV mini-series (originally a book) satirising, amongst other things, the war on drugs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9l0_j3uvGc
Think this guy should be using HPS at this point? Those plants look pretty young... I'd have my mercury bulb out.
i can't wait till 1984 catches up with us :(
~ awaiting spiritual enlightenment ~
I am Dutch. There also is somewhat of a cultural difference w.r.t. to smoking joints.
For (most of) the Dutch, smoking joints is something you do as a juvenile, and at some point in their early twenties, 99.99% stop smoking and prefer the occasional beer or wine.
The 'stoner' as such, as depicted in many US movies, hardly exists in the Netherlands. Maybe except for the occasional 'bird-of-paradise' left-over from the sixties. But, yeah, well, hard to take them seriously.
This is way different than, for example, somewhat larger small groups of Germans who actually (sometimes) still see smoking weed as a kind of sixties 'liberalizing' act.
To most of the Dutch, smoking weed as an act is a non-issue. The problem is the legal part, the tourists it attracts, and our dealings with foreign nations.
Antihero here, take me serious, www.myspace.com/an_anti_hero
pot is medicine, marijuana is medicine, its a recretaional drug, you cant overdose on it, cigarettes are legal, listen
IF SWINE FLU WAS REAL, IF THEY MADE IT IN A LABORATORY, WEED should be legal to anyone who wants it as medicine
No!!!Fascism!! spending thousands of dollars on some stupid drone plane to fly through the air and invade our freedoms?
NO. NO. NO.
I believe people that believe in one world government should be hung dead, because those illuminati/zionists are behind 9/11, iraq, afghanistan, torture, financial crisis/bailout, they're behind...
The bible says: By their fruits you shall know them.
No seriously. All of that money and effort for weed?!? You can walk through Big Ben park and see the stuff growing wild. It rarely grows beyond a sprout but... Hunting out people growing weed?!? OMFG what a useless waist of time and energy.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
I imagine that these devices are quite expensive.
A shotgun and a few rocks would prolly take them all down in no-time. Then it would take the pigs a year to get funding from the dole/govment for new units. Some gasoline and a few matches could be handy just to make sure that they get fubar.
I think the expense factor of these drones and the technology they use outweighs the benefits of preventing people from growing weed in their homes. One has to remember that it is legal to smoke weed in the Netherlands, and that there are even coffee shops where weed is a prominent part of the experience. This seems like a huge waste of money to me. I think the Netherlands and every country for that matter have much better things to spend a large amount of money such as this on. In addition, although the police seem to think that this would not be breaking the law, I would have to disagree. I think there must be some sort of privacy law in the Netherlands that would not allow something like this to happen. These planes have no just cause to be scanning the homes of people in the first place.
Robo-Nazis