Slashdot Mirror


Drones Being Used By Peeping Toms, The Military, And Terrorists (newsweek.com)

An anonymous reader writes: A 19-year-old woman called Massachusetts police about a drone peeking through her second-story window at 3 a.m. -- and was told no laws had been violated. Kansas is now passing an anti-harassment law after a woman reported her neighbor's drone was hovering over their pool and outside the window where her 16-year-old daughter was washing dishes. But meanwhile, the U.S. Navy has just outfitted one supercarrier with a new drone control room, while one Dutch activist writes in Newsweek that terrorist drone attacks "are not a matter of 'If' but 'When'." Noting that drones are cheap, portable and useful, PAX's Wim Zwijnenburg warns that "Terrorists and armed militia groups are already using consumer drones in conflict situations" -- for example, in Iraq, Syria, Gaza, and the Ukraine -- "and it is likely only a matter of time before they use them to carry out attacks in Europe or the U.S."

He believes ISIS is developing its own drone fleet, and warns about the possibility of swarms with "dozens of drones equipped with explosives or chemicals". Zwijnenburg proposes background checks and registrations for certain types of drones, as well as counter-drone technology to protect airports, crowded stadiums, and critical infrastructure points. Citing the blurring lines between military and civilian drones, he writes that "there needs to be an urgent and frank discussion among industry, the military, law enforcement, and most of all, the public, as to where we go from here."

Meanwhile, another prison just reported a drone had flown over their wall -- this time a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Heli Ball.

1 of 101 comments (clear)

  1. Happy to live here... by luvirini · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...where we have laws against using technical means to watch others who are in protected areas.

    Basically anyone can use things like drones, cameras and so on in the public places and similar(where there is no expectation of privacy), but using anything technical to look into someone's home(and some other locations) is forbidden. The protection of homes is actually pretty strong in other things too.

    And yes this includes old ladies with binoculars peeping.
    A fun case was when some old biddy complained to the police about someone stretching in their 3rd floor window nude that she can see clearly with her binoculars from across a park and she was the only one charged with a crime since she was using a technical device(the binoculars) to secretly look into a protected area(The other person's home).