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A comment on U.S. proposes to allow drone operation at night, over people.

Re:U.S. proposes to allow drone operation at night, over people by jMyles on Monday January 14, 2019 @09:01PM (#18908307)
One of the most important roles for drones is fully independent observation of police that is very difficult to physically disrupt.

If independent, amateur, volunteer drone operators begin to observe nearly every outdoor police encounter in the United States, without the police being physically able to stop it, that alone will be a big enough victory to justify many of the side effects.

Let's ensure that observation of government agents, whether at a traffic stop or a huge gathering, becomes a regular, legal, celebrated practice.

Nobody stands to benefit more from this than honest, integral police officers who live in fear of reporting their less savory colleagues.

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Re:U.S. proposes to allow drone operation at night, over people by vkou on Monday January 14, 2019 @09:18PM (#18908378)
I think a bigger concern is that the police will use drones to conduct ubiquitous surveillance.
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Re:U.S. proposes to allow drone operation at night, over people by leetcrew on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @08:19AM (#18910910)
the FBI already does stuff like this with little cessnas, albeit not at scale. [0]

[0] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/02/fbi-surveill...

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Re:U.S. proposes to allow drone operation at night, over people by flyinglizard on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @09:09AM (#18911180)
Not that I'm advocating against police transparency, but just imagine what it would be like to livestream your work computer screen to the entire world. It sounds quite stressful.
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Re:U.S. proposes to allow drone operation at night, over people by krapp on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @09:26AM (#18911276)
>It sounds quite stressful.

The price they pay for the privilege of enforcing the state's monopoly on violence should be some lack of an expectation of privacy due to public scrutiny, that only seems fair.

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Re:U.S. proposes to allow drone operation at night, over people by jMyles on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @01:19PM (#18913466)
More stressful than having colleagues whose power has corrupted them and knowing that nobody will believe you (or worse, that you'll be the target of reprisal) if you report them?

I think that taking the reporting part of police abuse out of the hands of police (ie, by ensuring that bodycams are a secondary viewport, while overhead observation by ordinary, independent persons is primary) will make the job less stressful, not more.

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Re:U.S. proposes to allow drone operation at night, over people by drb91 on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @12:14PM (#18912772)
> It sounds quite stressful.

So does being shot by police.

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