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Google Testing an Airborne Camera Drone

Posted by kdawson on from the watching-over-us dept.

mbone writes "The Blogoscoped site carries news that Google has purchased a German 'Microdrone' for evaluation (here is the original German version). These devices can take off, fly a mission, and land automatically using GPS. They can carry night-vision cameras or even 'see-through-walls' Far IR cameras. Of course, the maker of these drones assures us that they cannot be a 'Big Brother in the sky' because that is 'verboten.' Is it just me, or is Google entering dangerous airspace here? It seems like the ruckus from a backyard-after-dark addition to Street View could completely overshadow the legal tussles Google has already encountered with its street-level photography." Reader Jaymi clues us to another airborne effort a couple of Google employees are mounting with some help from NASA Ames: the NexusOne PhoneSat project — to determine if low-cost mobile phone components can withstand space travel.

7 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. Pull! by spywhere · · Score: 5, Funny

    If I see it above my street, I'll put up a cloud of birdshot...

    1. Re:Pull! by adamdoyle · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you don't have the mental capacity to recognize a joke then you don't have the capacity to form educated opinions on legal issues.

  2. Re:heh by Pharmboy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Pull the trigger and it's garbage.

    Sounds like an idea for a website, send in your photos of your downed Google drones, with you standing there holding it up like a 10 point buck. Googlefail.com or some such.

    --
    Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
  3. Opt-Out file? by LostCluster · · Score: 5, Funny

    Can't you just place a robots.txt file on your property to tell the GoogleDrone not to index it?

  4. Can != will by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes, the drones can carry long wavelength cameras to see through walls. They could also carry nuclear weapons. Irrational paranoia aside, Google is probably just trying to compete with Bing's Birds-Eye map capabilities.

  5. There is a hobby group for UAVs by Bigjeff5 · · Score: 5, Informative

    In fact, there are several. Aside from an RC plane of some sort, all you need is about $100 in parts and some electronics know-how to build your own (basic) UAV.

    Of course, it won't be as sophisticated as a multi-million dollar micro-UAV or one of the Air Force's Predator drones, but medium range (several miles) surveillance, automated take-offs and landings, GPS waypoint tracking, infrared cameras, etc. are not outside the realm of the hobbyist.

    Check out http://www.diydrones.com/ to see what I mean.

    --
    Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller
  6. Re:Can... by Yvan256 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Exactly! They've got this "do-no-evil" clause that protects us from them!