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Amateur UAV Pilot Exposes Texas River of Blood

Presto Vivace writes "Carlton Purvis of Security Management News reports that a tip from an amateur UAV enthusiast 'is what led Texas authorities to open a major criminal investigation into the waste practices of a Dallas meat packing plant.' The photo shows a river of blood."

13 of 388 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Hmmm by baldass_newbie · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Bet you a nickel the police would need a warrant before such surveillance.
    In fact, I kind of hope they do, public benefit notwithstanding.

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  2. Is a UAV necessary? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Columbia+Meat&hl=en&ll=32.751275,-96.787695&spn=0.001405,0.002068&sll=32.802955,-96.769923&sspn=0.47903,0.576782&vpsrc=6&t=h&z=19

  3. Not surprising by atari2600a · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Most slaughterhouses in the US pay no attention to federal humane slaughtering & biohazard laws, what I find most surprising is they just *threw away* the wastewater-- that stuff makes perfect additive for fertilizer!

  4. Re:Hmmm by WorBlux · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Exactly and flowing water is public (state) property anyways.

  5. Re:Hmmm by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There has been some haggling(largely unsuccessful; because what wouldn't we do to Win The War On Drugs?) about exactly how much specialized gear you are allowed to 'observe' with before it becomes surveillance in gross violation of reasonable expectations.

    Thermal imaging has attracted a number of court cases: cops in vehicles or aircraft go hunting for anomalously high longwave IR emissions that suggest a building may be being used as a grow-op. It can certainly be argued that IR radiates away from your house just the same that visible light does; but it doesn't do so well under the 'what a member of the public might observe from the street' test.

    I'm assuming that cheaper drones, fancy terahertz imaging technology, laser mics, and other sci-fi stuff will continue to nibble at the question of what standard, exactly, 'observation' constitutes... Is it "absolutely anything I infer without physical trespass" or does it have some relation to what the 'ordinary man' could be expected to notice?

  6. Re:If libertarians had there way by Miseph · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So if everybody owns the land, we are enslaved, but if individuals own all the land we are not... right. Freedom is slavery, up is down, libertarianism isn't batshit insane stupidity. I'm not sure how I really feel about this little game.

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  7. Take a close look at the Google images... by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In the GOOGLE MAP where the creek joins the river, it's pretty obvious.

    I'm wondering how this could have been going on for so long, long enough for Google to have images (so obviously it's not a one time or sporadic event) event, without anyone noticing, does no one boat up that river? Fish on it? No nearby land owners?

    Odd...

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  8. Re:What would be the libertarian solution? by towermac · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Don't hurt yourself too much. Pure libertarianism is about as viable as pure communism. Both have the laudable goal of freeing the common man from oppression.

    I wonder if it isn't the common man's lot to always be oppressed to some extent; and money and power will always be worth, well, money and power.

  9. Re:Hmmm by TheLink · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Nowadays is it reasonable to expect viewing from Google Maps (and streetview etc)? :).
    http://g.co/maps/zqf5u

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  10. 3rd world nation by WindBourne · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why is America becoming more and more like a 3rd world nation?

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  11. Re:Hmmm by darth+dickinson · · Score: 4, Interesting

        Extra power consumption, with a hot room or plume of heat from an extra air conditioner, is enough probable cause for a warrant.

    Now this has me legitimately concerned. I have a home networking lab that I use to validate various network configs for training, and for customers. A rack of routers, switches, and servers pulls quite the electrical draw, and generates quite a bit of heat. Not as much as grow lights, I'd imagine, but still...

  12. Re:Hmmm by RMingin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Holy shit. As soon as you look, it's immediately apparent. The creek above the plant is white where there's turbulence, and green where there isn't. At the plant, it becomes maroon. Down where that creek flows into a larger one, you can see a clear tail of the maroon water flowing into the larger green creek.

    So even if they had to slap the "UAV" guy on the wrist and throw out the info, anyone looking at Google could have made an 'anonymous' complaint afterwards.

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    The preceding comment is my own, and in no way construes an opinon of the Emperor of Mankind.
  13. Re:If libertarians had there way by ChrisMaple · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Oceans are pretty big, and an ocean wouldn't be owned by a single entity, any more than a whole continent is (I'm not counting governments, I mean property owners). Furthermore, certain aspects of areas might be owned: shipping rights, fishing rights, mining rights. If an adjoiner's polluted water is killing fish in the area where I have fishing rights, I sue him.

    Food is valuable, and fish is high quality food. The economic power of a large, well-organized fishing company should be enough to force a polluter to behave better.

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