Israel leads global drone exports as demand grows. Drones are seen in a hangar at Israel Aerospace Industries, near Tel Aviv.
LAPD goes to Israel, falls in love with drones and mass surveillance. Www.electronicintifada.net The HoverMast-100, an Israeli surveillance drone that the LAPD hopes to add to its arsenal.
The Jewish Journal has an incredible write-up of the Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) recent visit to Israel. For nine days early this month, eight of the LAPD’s highest ranking officers toured Israel on a trip organized by LAPD Deputy Chief and commander of the Counter-Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau, Michael Downing, and headed by LAPD Information Technology Bureau commander Horace Frank. Rise of the machines: Google robots, Kurzweil's AI, and why self-aware machines will inevitably seek to destroy humanity. (NaturalNews) In the brilliant techno-thriller fiction novel DAEMON by Daniel Suarez, a collection of clever computer scripts take over corporations, economies and entire governments.
AI programs also activate and control vehicles, buildings and critical infrastructure, outmaneuvering the FBI, CIA and even the NSA at every turn. The book is a great ride that's obviously written by a very well-informed information technology expert. But what if it's not fiction? Earlier this week, AI expert Ray Kurzweil predicted that robots would "outsmart humans" by 2029. Spy Drone Can See What You are Wearing From 17,500 Feet. Surveillance. The Drone War.
Drones + Robots + Tech. Drony. Drones. 2013: The year of the drone. Unmanned: America's Drone Wars. Attack of the Drones - USA. Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. Over the past decade, the expanded use of unmanned armed vehicles has dramatically changed warfare, bringing new humanitarian and legal challenges.
Now rapid advances in technology are resulting in efforts to develop fully autonomous weapons. These robotic weapons would be able to choose and fire on targets on their own, without any human intervention. This capability would pose a fundamental challenge to the protection of civilians and to compliance with international human rights and humanitarian law.
Several nations with high-tech militaries, including China, Israel, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, are moving toward systems that would give greater combat autonomy to machines. If one or more chooses to deploy fully autonomous weapons, a large step beyond remote-controlled armed drones, others may feel compelled to abandon policies of restraint, leading to a robotic arms race. Out of Sight, Out of Mind: A visualization of drone strikes in Pakistan since 2004. Peace Action West - Groundswell Blog. An impressive new interactive infographic provides a striking example of how much the drone war in Pakistan has escalated during the Obama administration.
Drones Visualization: Every U.S. Drone Strike In Pakistan Since 2004 (GRAPHIC) Pitch Interactive, a Berkeley-based data visualization unit, has created a graphic tracking every drone strike the United States has carried out in Pakistan since 2004.
Wesley Grubbs, who created the visualization, joined HuffPost Live host Ahmed Shihab-Eldin Tuesday to explain the motivation behind the visualization. "We want to shock people," Grubbs said. AP Shows Civilian Casualties Equal To or Worse than TBIJ, Drone Boosters Declare Victory. There’s something funny about the response I’ve seen so far to the AP report on the number of civilian drone strikes.
The AP reports that 30% of the drone strikes in the last 18 months in North Waziristan were civilians or police; discounting the most deadly attack brings that number down to 12% (eliminating the March 17 strike makes the final totals 18 civilians killed of 152). Indeed, the AP was told by the villagers that of at least 194 people killed in the attacks, about 70 percent — at least 138 — were militants. The remaining 56 were either civilians or tribal police, and 38 of them were killed in a single attack on March 17, 2011.Excluding that strike, which inflicted one of the worst civilian death tolls since the drone program started in Pakistan, nearly 90 percent of the people killed were militants, villagers said. Drone on Your iPhone: Apple Drops Objections to App Tracking U.S. Strikes Overseas.
This is a rush transcript.
Drone killings case thrown out in US. A US federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against the government by the families of three American citizens killed by drones in Yemen, saying senior officials cannot be held personally responsible for money damages for the act of conducting war.
The families of the three – including Anwar al-Awlaki, a New Mexico-born militant Muslim cleric who had joined al-Qaida's Yemen affiliate, as well as his teenage son – sued over their 2011 deaths in US drone strikes, arguing that the killings were illegal. Judge Rosemary Collyer of the US district court in Washington threw out the case, which had named as defendants the former defence secretary and CIA chief Leon Panetta, the former senior military commander and CIA chief David Petraeus and two other top military commanders.
UN: Pakistan 'does not sanction' US drone strikes. » Rand Paul Joined By Grassley In Fight To Release Memo Justifying Drone Strikes On US Citizens Alex Jones. Former Justice Department lawyer argued for right to kill AmericansSteve WatsonInfowars.com May 8, 2014 Senator Rand Paul is winning support in the fight to release controversial Justice Department memos pertaining to using drone strikes against American citizens.
Today Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said that he is also calling on the Senate to block the nomination of David Barron, the author of at least one of the memos, to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals by the Obama administration. In his role as a lawyer at the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, Barron wrote a memo, and may have had a hand in at least nine others, that argue there is a legal right to target American citizens overseas with drone strikes.
“This nomination cannot go forward unless this body – every member of this body – is given access to any and all secret legal opinions this nominee wrote on this critical issue,” Grassley added. Tags: drones. Dont-drone-me-bro-new-1369341673.png (PNG Image, 1644 × 1799 pixels) - Scaled (44%) Yemen Deaths Test Claims of New Drone Policy. Groups concerned over arming of domestic drones. Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office in Texas said his department is considering using rubber bullets and tear gas on its drone, CBS DC reports.
“Drone manufacturers are also considering offering police the option of arming these remote-controlled aircraft with (nonlethal for now) weapons like rubber bullets, Tasers, and tear gas,” the ACLU says on their website. Military Micro bots Collecting DNA & Blood! Bird-inspired drones may be able to perch on power lines to recharge. In this lab setup, the glider is able to locate and perch in front of a power line Image Gallery (2 images) Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are currently being considered for many applications, although one factor that a lot of people tend to gloss over is the aircrafts' limited battery range – being able to stay airborne for only 10 to 30 minutes at a time definitely limits their usefulness. Researchers at MIT, however, are developing a possible solution. Robotic Weapon System gives helicopters hidden firepower. U.S. Drones: A Measure Of Safety Or Other Motivations? (CARTOON)
The country's use of drone strikes has become a hot topic this week. After facing increased pressure from members of Congress, President Obama directed the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel to provide access to a classified memo outlining the administration's legal justification for targeted killing. The issue has brought up questions of government transparency and has even sparked heated debate between television hosts. Haq's Musings: American CIA's "Secret" War in Pakistan.
The publicly-acknowledged recent deaths of several CIA agents and Blackwater personnel in a suicide bombing in Khost, Afghanistan, have once again brought the CIA's and its private contractors' combat role into sharp focus. Drone casualties. The Future Of Micro Drones Is Getting Pretty Scary According To Alan Lovejoy. Drone ‘Nightmare Scenario’ Now Has A Name: ARGUS. msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/020413_DOJ_White_Paper.pdf. Texas Students Hijack US Military Drone in Mid Air. When the Department of Homeland security makes bets with the civilian population, perhaps they shouldn’t offer college students $1000. And Now, Nano Drones. Micro-Robots Are Scary Awesome.
Droning Progress & Advances. A Remote Controlled Rat. SkyJack: The drone that hijacks other drones in mid-air. The Veil of Secrecy is Lifting on Drones. Here's What You Need to Know. NYT Undercounts Drone Deaths in Pakistan. The New York Times editorial page (11/30/12) weighs in on the Obama administration's drone policies. Google buys military robot-maker Boston Dynamics. Drones destroy life, terrorize survivors, are unethical, unlawful; should be banned ─ Medact report. UAVs must be unambiguously written into international treaties; their makers, agents, governments and their leaders must adhere, without exception, to international arms and related treaties, international conventions, humanitarian and human rights laws Excerpt from Medact report.
Artists install massive poster of child’s face in Pakistan field to shame drone operators. Drone Attacks In Pakistan – Trends. Who Are The Casualties Of America's Drone Strikes? [Infographic] The United States has killed more than 3,000 people in Pakistan with drone strikes. Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. Counting Drone Strike Deaths. Drones. Facebook to Buy Drone Company Titan Aerospace for $60 Million.