Drones and satellite imaging

[MayorQuimby]

Hello. First, pardon me as I am not too terribly familiar with technology.

That said, I do know that they send un-manned little flying machines (drones) that take pictures of people's backyards and peer into people's homes, and then send the images back to, I presume a government agency, to be analyzed. However, my understanding is that while what I described can be done by machine, the actual analysis has to be done by human operatives, right? For example, someone who is brandishing a firearm angrily, and someone who is just holding a firearm, are very different and it takes a human to interpret that difference. Am I correct in this analysis? If yes then it should probably take maybe a couple more years, before the technology arrives that will enable successful mass-scale surveillance by the government.

 

[MayorQuimby]

Another thing I want to bring up is, I briefly looked into the legality of government agencies such as police, the NSA...etc flying drones over people's backyards and taking pictures. The chatbot told me that the laws in this area have not kept up with technology. You see, many years ago, there was this thing called navigable airspace — the idea that once you're above a certain height, it's public airspace, not your property. However, that was years ago. Now, we have machines that do not even fly that high up and can take perfect, high-resolution pictures of backyards, which people should have a reasonable expectation of privacy about. I believe that this is a major privacy concern, and if someone runs a political party, and makes it a part of its platform, it should appeal to a lot of people who are concerned about the government peering into their private spaces. What do you guys think?

 

[jacksonlamb]

Don't flourish a firearm in an angry or threatening manner.

 

[MayorQuimby]

Don't flourish a firearm in an angry or threatening manner.

People have the right to do something as long as it's not illegal.