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Chuck Schumer Tells Apple and Google To "Curb Your Spy Planes"
mk1004 writes with news from The Register that U.S. Senator Charles Schumer of New York has written to Apple and Google regarding their use of 'military-grade spy planes.' The Senator claims concerns ranging from voyeurism to terrorism. Suggested protections: Warn when areas are going to be imaged, give property owners the right to opt out, and blurring of individuals. Schumer seems happy enough, though, with the more detailed versions of such surveillance being in the hands of law enforcement agencies, and phrases his complaint to emphasize what he perceives as risks to infrastructure brought about by detailed maps that anyone can browse: "[I]f highly detailed images become available, criminals could create more complete schematic maps of the power and water grids in the United States. With the vast amount of infrastructure across the country, it would be impossible to secure every location."
So what is Chuck doing in his back yard that he doesn't want everyone to see, hmmm????
"Murderer? Well, that's a harsh word. I prefer to think of myself as a Mortality Technician."
let's completely ignore the societal and economic benefits of such technology because ... fear, people. Fear.
GPS used to have a 1km fudge factor inserted into it to prevent people using it for terrorist activities.
Not that I'm entirely sure how I feel about Google using drones to improve Google Earth. If I have a privacy fence up... well, it's to protect my privacy. Taking pictures from a low flying drone isn't much different than leaning a ladder against the fence and climbing up to peer over. On the other hand, it's a one time thing (or at least rare) and the same viewing angle can be achieved any number of ways that people don't have a problem with (if nothing else manned aircraft). I think I'm actually going to have to think about this one a bit...
Nice grandstanding. Have you seen the Planet Earth series? I'd say that's probably better than "military grade" video. Actually, there's a lot of stuff out there better than military grade. Get over it.
Aside from being able to map out things from the comfort of your Abbottabad living room using a single source instead of doing regular old recon (it's not hard, or particularly obvious), there's no change except a perceptual one. He is correct that it is effectively impossible to secure every location. A better plan would be to build in the redundancy that should have been there in the first place. If my power goes out - way out in the country - for a week, it sucks to be me, but the 30,000 of us can manage. If power to the east coast goes out for a week, that's really, really bad. Perhaps you should consider a more robust system that is less prone to single point failures?
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Chuck Schumer is one of the biggest pro-government control-freak assholes in congress. He has no qualms bending logic, twisting and lying to spin whatever propoganda he needs to in order to advance his agenda. He has never met a law he didn't like, and works to restrict freedom with his every move.
This is only latest in a decades long series of moves by him.
See:
Chuck Schumer vs. Free Speech
Schumer Among Biggest Supporters of Anti-Piracy Laws (He was a co-sponsor of SOPA and PIPA)
Schumer's racket: Lobbyists and hedge funds
Schumer proposes new federal regulations on grill brushes
And since the above links are all pretty recent, here's some Schumer history:
Warning people before is a terrible idea. I don't like the prospect of seeing people spreading their buttcheeks to the sky on every single map that's availible.
FTA: "...Google and Apple have upgraded their capabilities to aircraft-based photography that can see through windows and capture detailed images with four-inch resolution."
Four-inch resolution? I guess I don't have anything to worry about!
Plus, if you want a complete map of the water infrastructure, you can just asked the water company and they will /give/ it to you.
You first, Chucky!
Yet another mealy-mouthed, two-faced, lying, dinosaur of a career politician that should be swinging from the end of a rope instead of being in a position of government power.
A Google drone might spot a greenhouse in my backyard and target horticultural product ads at me. The horror!
A government drone might spot the same greenhouse and target a SWAT raid on me. Or a Hellfire missile.
If Chucky and his TLA buddies can fly a drone over me, I should be able to fly a drone over Chucky & friends.
Maybe an open-source drone project for civilians to counter the governments domestic drone spying with their own spy drones? I bet a few civilian drones buzzing over these politician's own homes and offices would get some attention.
And if the government decides to severely restrict civilian drone use while giving free reign to TLA/LEO drones, maybe my experience with designing military missile & torpedo guidance/targeting systems could find civilian counter-applications.
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
You can ask, but you can't get it. At least not here.
We purchased ArcGIS to evaluate our responses at the fire department I work for. The county, highway department, assessors office, and other 911 centers were more than happy to share data with us. The water company wouldn't. We were originally told their security policy would not allow them to share data with us.
That's right. The water company could not tell the fire department where the fire hydrants are because of security policy.
Total WTF moment...