I'd
like to personally thank whomever invented drone technology and made it
available to the general public. No, not really. Admittedly they are
great for capturing real-time video of public outdoor venues and scenery
that look really cool form the air. But when they do a buzz-by over
your house, it's a different story completely. I've always said that
life requires a healthy balance of all things. I now present a
potentially unhealthy imbalance. (See video below)
This
afternoon I was minding my own business whilst washing both cars
outdoors. I was scrubbing away, breaking a sweat when all of a sudden I
hear what sounds like a swarm of bees. Well, that can't be, I
thought...or at least hoped. Then I looked up and fixed my eyes on the
origin of the noise. Shazam, there it was. A familiar looking four prop
drone buzzing 100 yards or so over my head. Granted we live in a
relatively remote neighborhood so I did not think this altogether
unusual. But then suddenly it stopped directly overhead and paused. It
was loud enough to be annoying and hovered long enough to be concerning.
Odd even still was the fact that it suddenly returned on the exact
trajectory it had arrived. A nosy neighbor perhaps?
Inevitably,
you go down the path of, if it comes again, how am I going to get it
out of the sky. Can I throw things at it? Can I shoot water at it? A BB
gun maybe? Even
a toy drone with an HD camera scrambles our sense of property and
privacy rights. What constitutes a reasonable expectation of privacy
anyway? Already there have been recent stories of close calls between
airplanes and various types of drones within their flight path. Does
that concern you? It should.
Unfortunately
like most abrogation of privacy rights, a public outcry to impose
restrictions often comes too little, too late. It is true that Google
Maps already has high definition photos of our private property. But
this is much more intrusive and potentially much more dangerous. We
simply do not know who owns and operates these drones. Anyone with even
the slightest awareness of current events can easily put the pieces
together.
I'm
afraid Pandora's Box has already been opened to the swift dissemination
of our private information across the web for the whole world to see.
Time to pull down the window shades. Oh, and if your wondering what's
next, just Google "f-35 xray vision" and "infrared detection
devices" which will most likely become drone add-ons in the future. At
least in those days we will no longer need window shades.
So much for privacy!
But hey, I'm a nice guy so let me help you out with your purchasing decisions:
But hey, I'm a nice guy so let me help you out with your purchasing decisions:
