To Drone or NOT to Drone?

[Oniya]

Ah, but the question was about dealing with private-sector snoops with publicly-available equipment.  ;D  I assume that public safety equipment would include better protection from interference. 

Of course, eventually, you'd have this 'police-grade' equipment getting out to the private sector, which would result in a kind of 'arms race', the same way that the Texas University clock-tower shooting resulted in an upgrading of police training (and the creation of the SWAT forces).

[Monfang]

Ah, but the question was about dealing with private-sector snoops with publicly-available equipment.  ;D  I assume that public safety equipment would include better protection from interference. 

Of course, eventually, you'd have this 'police-grade' equipment getting out to the private sector, which would result in a kind of 'arms race', the same way that the Texas University clock-tower shooting resulted in an upgrading of police training (and the creation of the SWAT forces).

On the police-grade equipment, that is to be expected. Criminals raid transport vehicals or warehouses where they are stored and it gets on the black market. Same thing that is happening today with guns and ammo. I doubt we will see battling drones in the air within our lifetimes at least, but there is a chance of counter surveillance. The kid that is paid ten dollars to shout 'police!' replaced with a drone.

And you are right, I slipped up and went in a different direction.

In the terms of the private sector, we are dealing with an interesting problem. Though, I have a feeling that the cases will be broken up so that they are easier to solve. The first one being unintental surveillance, that is a case where a drone is just flying around and accidently catches something incriminating or illegal to record. Then you might have Neglagent Operation, where the drone in question causes damage somehow but accidently. Then there is the use by a minor, a child basically, which would be something I can't think of a name for. Then when you get into the cases of intentally damaging or recording someone outside of your property for no good reason, you get into Malicious Surveillance and Malicious Operation. And lastly the most serious which would be outright attempting to rob someone of their privacy. The horror story of drones peeking into bedroom windows, for example. Though as loud as those things are, it should be far off.

[Oniya]

On the police-grade equipment, that is to be expected. Criminals raid transport vehicals or warehouses where they are stored and it gets on the black market. Same thing that is happening today with guns and ammo. I doubt we will see battling drones in the air within our lifetimes at least, but there is a chance of counter surveillance. The kid that is paid ten dollars to shout 'police!' replaced with a drone.

You can already do this to a fair extent with a digital camera and a wireless transmitter and receiver.  Possibly some phones, but I'd imagine it's still a little pricey to do it with a 'throw-away' phone.  Set your camera on video mode, attach to transmitter, place in an inconspicuous place 'covering' the desired area, and view what the camera sees on the receiver.

[Callie Del Noire]

Okay.. let me put it this way.

Sooner or later, if it's not regulated and curtailed, you'll be able to get the nifty little drones like we saw in Dark Angels wwaaay back in the last decade. What does this mean.

Well you'll have an autonomous patrol of automated drones (or monitored drones from a central loction) who might or might not have cameras, and/or weaponry. AS the tech improves, (specifically range, distance, responsiveness and autonomy (for 'black out periods)) you are going to find drones becoming more and more common.

With the introduction of off the shelf components, plug and play software and control systems, you have a veritable nightmare of security issues. Terrorists won't need suicide bombers.. they'll fly these. Paparazzi will gain a new method of tracking their targets. Police men might or might not have new methods of investigation, patrol.

Note.. aside from weaponry.. almost NONE of the material to create the small 'smartphone' driven drones is illegal to possess. Growing in scale to the manhole cover sized drones of 'Dark Angel'