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Tired of skies filled with robots? Okay, that hasn't happened yet, but the Federal Aviation Authority expects that by 2020, American skies will have up to 30,000 drones operating domestically, so the possibility of a robot-crowded sky in the near future is very real. Domestic Drone Countermeasures, LLC, is planning to sell commercial anti-drone equipment aimed at protecting private citizens from prying eyes.Founded in February, DDC was created by the same people behind defense contractor Aplus Mobile, which makes ruggedized computers for other defense contractors. Using knowledge gained from its military contracting work, DDC says it has developed countermeasures that are"highly effective and undefeatable by most current domestic drone technologies."How does the technology work? The press release was maddeningly vague ("Multiple layer systems ensure success by impeding typical drone sensors, infrared and camera capability and their effectiveness") so we reached out to the company over email. Here's what DDC's Amy Ciesielka has to say: "We simply do not allow the [drone] cameras to observe with any clarity."More to the point, DDC's system has some sort of software that's programmed to conspire against camera- and infrared-equipped drones. One report described the products as "land-based boxes."The company insists that its system thwarts drones in a way that is "non-offensive, non-combative, and not destructive." But how does the technology distinguish between a drone and a commercial plane? Or a drone and seagull? Says Ciesielka:The system software is required to make decisions based on multiple inputs to determine if the object in question is indeed a drone or not. It would be silly to waste countermeasures on a seagull, or impede any human piloted aircraft. Fortunately FAA rules set boundaries as far as the flight envelope of drone operation and does not intermix drones with commercial or private aircraft at this time. Our systems have a high level of discrimination sophistication and are geared to detect, identify, neutralize and alert of their presence.As for how a user would be notified of a drone's presence:The countermeasure portion of the system's operation will not be subtle when a drone is detected. It will alert the owner of a drone's presence and will create active countermeasures that will be obvious to the user.Not knowing more about what form these countermeasures will take, it is hard to speculate on the broader implications here. But when commercial drones start to crowd our skies, the market for consumers who want to win back some privacy will only grow. You can bet DDC won't be the only one selling anti-drone wares to the masses.
Originally posted by ManOfHart
An infrared laser trained onto the drones camera will make it unable to see. Im glad people are working on this.
Im sure such tools will one day be non legal. But the tech would be easy.
Originally posted by Bybyots
reply to post by inverslyproportional
The idea is interesting but useless. All a person would be doing is announcing to the drone's 'sensors' that they were early adopters of anti-drone technology. Right? You would be pretty easy to find as a blur of some sort on their GIS systems.
Originally posted by Bybyots
reply to post by inverslyproportional
The idea is interesting but useless. All a person would be doing is announcing to the drone's 'sensors' that they were early adopters of anti-drone technology. Right? You would be pretty easy to find as a blur of some sort on their GIS systems.
The world is not going that way; it's going to be weirder than anyone could have possibly imagined. It is going to be the 50s cold war era on steroids. We are not headed for greater anonymity. For the sake of network security, everyone is going to have to be exactly who they say they are, with a hashed set of 'credentials' ready to go to prove it. It will be considered the responsible thing to do to set one's self up like this; those that don't will be shamed (that's usually how society takes care of that).
So, no, the future is not about hiding, it's about being exactly who you say you are.
After, all, if you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about, right?
edit on 20-3-2013 by Bybyots because: heh
Originally posted by ImaFungi
Originally posted by Bybyots
reply to post by inverslyproportional
The idea is interesting but useless. All a person would be doing is announcing to the drone's 'sensors' that they were early adopters of anti-drone technology. Right? You would be pretty easy to find as a blur of some sort on their GIS systems.
Not to mention, after ruining or breaking a drone (if they did), the government would only be going right back into their pockets, to make new ones. "Here let me take your money..to spy on you....its for your own good"
I dont like your idea of the future very much, and I really have a hard time seeing it come to pass.
Just look at the reception the google glasses have gotten, nobody wants to be their data mine, a lot of folks have already banned their use in their businesses even.
No, man doesnt want everyone to know everything about them all the time, man seeks privacy, always has, hence person privacy being such a huge topic, and even so far as part of our constitution.
Only mao or stalin typez would like your future, not saying you are one of these types at all here, just pointing out the " if your not doing anything wrong you have nothing to hide" mindset doesnt go over at all in most places.
Originally posted by inverslyproportional
Originally posted by ManOfHart
An infrared laser trained onto the drones camera will make it unable to see. Im glad people are working on this.
Im sure such tools will one day be non legal. But the tech would be easy.
I agree, I have been wandering how long it woukd take someone to make an optical device that simply follows the camera lense and lights it up so it can see anything at all
Looks like it didnt take very long, though after the years of use in the mideasr, I would have thought someone already would have worked this out.
Originally posted by Bybyots
reply to post by inverslyproportional
I promise to provide some even weirder help later.
Hang in there.
American skies will have up to 30,000 drones operating domestically, so the possibility of a robot-crowded sky in the near future is very real.
But the reporter never gives any references for this. We simple have no idea if this is true or not.
The agency projects that 30,000 drones could be in the nation’s skies by 2020.