“It’s a clear example of why mass monitoring makes people safer, less secure,” says Evan Greer, vice president of the digital rights group Fight for the Future, on data loss. “Organizations and governments are critical in protecting what they take.”
Police drones have received a lot of attention recently, as they represent a new generation of space vehicles that are able to monitor underground as well as new types of behavior, including flying indoors. In contrast, law enforcement agencies have been using helicopters to monitor and control aircraft for many years. But photos released by DDoSecrets show how high-resolution helicopter cameras can shoot very sharp and detailed video near the ground. Helicopters can also carry heavier light bulbs than can be attached to basic quadcopters or other low-cost drones.
“People think of police helicopters as traffic copters, but they are much more than that,” wrote DDoSecrets’ Best. “They have expertise that allows the police to monitor people who do not know they are being watched. It is important for people to understand what police expertise can already do and what will happen soon. There can be no informed discussion or decision in any other way. ”
Excessive use of helicopter monitoring raises concerns about privacy advocates on drones. UAVs are cheaper and easier to buy and operate than helicopters, and they can still carry many sensors.
“Camera and zoom technology is always getting cheaper,” says Matthew Feeney, director of Cato Institute’s Project on Emerging Technologies. “We should always think of space vehicles like drones as a platform for other lighting equipment including cameras, stingrays, oil cameras, and face recognition software.”
In the case of the downloaded helicopter video, DDoSecrets’ Best Notes that most of the images have been published since 2019 and that storage limits should be a priority in the police department. Same negotiations has come up with the need to eliminate the process when dealing with police cameras. It is possible that some of the downloaded helicopter images were retained because they are still subject to standard search, but most files are photographed for hours in real time and look at a variety of events, seemingly incompatible, places, and people.
Secretaries place great emphasis on the security forces of the air force as these images can be useful in a number of ways for detectives, insurgents, domestic or foreign terrorists, or those involved in intelligence.
Some of the images downloaded from Dallas and Atlanta show the types of jobs you would expect from police helicopters: surveying people in parking lots on game day, for example, or police pulling cars. But some of the characters in the film have a pointless, round character.
“I’ve never heard of helicopters being used this way,” says Fight for the Future’s Greer. “It’s weird, but it’s really scary. In the cities, you think of police helicopters that come in handy, but you are also aware that they are being used for intimidation, such as low-altitude flying in predominantly ethnic areas. “
In Minneapolis, for example, residents have said so regular report The number of police helicopters has skyrocketed since protests and riots in the summer of 2020 following the death of George Floyd. And although helicopters are well-known technologies, their use in legal analysis comes with concerns that have long been well-known. In 2004, a New York Police Department helicopter was spotted on an unauthorized night shift in Manhattan. four minutes of night vision about a couple having sex in a remote penthouse.
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