Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
Robobees
March 13th, 2013Via: Harvard: Overview of the Micro Air Vehicles Project INSPIRED by the biology of a bee and the insect’s hive behavior … we aim to push advances in miniature robotics and the design of compact high-energy power sources; spur innovations in ultra-low-power computing and electronic “smart” sensors; and refine coordination algorithms to manage multiple, independent […]
Ohio Judge: Traffic Cameras Are a Scam Against Motorists
March 11th, 2013Via: Columbus Dispatch / AP: A southwestern Ohio judge yesterday ordered a halt to a speeding-ticket blitz in a village that installed traffic cameras, saying it’s “a scam” against motorists. Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman blasted the cameras and the thousands of $105 citations that resulted. He ruled that they violate motorists’ constitutional […]
U.S. Air Force Disappears Drone Strike Statistics
March 9th, 2013Scrubbed: Click here to see the original December 2012 and January 2013 statistics and the ones apparently loaded online Feb. 22. Via: Air Force Times: As scrutiny and debate over the use of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) by the American military increased last month, the Air Force reversed a policy of sharing the number of […]
House Orders Pentagon to Disclose Domestic Drone Use
March 8th, 2013Via: Cnet: The U.S. House of Representatives voted yesterday to require the Defense Department to disclose whether military drones are being operated domestically to conduct surveillance on American citizens. A requirement buried in a lengthy appropriations bill calls on newly confirmed Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to disclose to Congress what “policies and procedures” are in […]
New York: Government Emergency Alert Test Interrupts Rand Paul Filibuster
March 7th, 2013Via: YouTube / CSPAN:
Holder: Drone Strikes in U.S. Possible in Response to ‘Extraordinary Circumstance’
March 6th, 2013Via: NBC: The Obama administration has “no intention” of carrying out drone strikes against suspected terrorists in the United States, but could use them in response to “an extraordinary circumstance” such as the 9/11 terror attacks, according to a letter from Attorney General Eric Holder obtained by NBC News. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who received […]
Robot Warriors: Lethal Machines Coming of Age
March 6th, 2013Via: BBC: The era of drone wars is already upon us. The era of robot wars could be fast approaching. Already there are unmanned aircraft demonstrators like the arrow-head shaped X-47B that can pretty-well fly a mission by itself with no involvement of a ground-based “pilot”. There are missile systems like the Patriot that can […]
British Terror Suspects Quietly Stripped of Citizenship… Then Killed by Drones
March 4th, 2013Via: Independent: The Government has secretly ramped up a controversial programme that strips people of their British citizenship on national security grounds – with two of the men subsequently killed by American drone attacks. An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism for The Independent has established that since 2010, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, […]
DHS Using Customized Versions of Predator Drones
March 3rd, 2013Via: Cnet: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has customized its Predator drones, originally built for overseas military operations, to carry out at-home surveillance tasks that have civil libertarians worried: identifying civilians carrying guns and tracking their cell phones, government documents show. The documents provide more details about the surveillance capabilities of the department’s unmanned […]
U.S. Navy Will Run Drone Missions 24/7 Out of Point Mugu
March 2nd, 2013Via: Gizmodo: I talked to the U.S. Fleet Forces Command, which had plenty to say about the upcoming drone playground, which is just one of “several bases throughout the world” the Navy wants. Each will host Tritons, with Point Mugu boasting four, conducting around five missions every single day. That’s over 1,800 takeoffs or landings […]
