Written by Nicholas Vetrisek
Last week, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency tested unmanned drones in San Diego and National City. The test was designed to see how the drones would function in large cities due to tall buildings making it difficult for sensors on the drone to work as effectively.
A statement by the agency said, “While DARPA’s focus is on protecting U.S. troops from drone attacks in urban settings overseas, the system under development could ultimately help protect U.S. metropolitan areas from potential drone-enabled terrorist threats.”
The first part of the statement is excellent. Anything that can help service members fighting overseas is always great news, but the second part is much more concerning. Given the fact that terrorism in the United States is essentially a non-threat since it’s incredibly rare, it seems like a trojan horse to allow for Snowden-Esque spying.
Regarding this event, DARPA specifically stated that they would not be collecting data, but who is to say that will always be the case? Big deal though; it’s just our rights, or whatever…
