*Lethal Big Brother eyes-in-the-sky, or the colorful googlebot butterflies of civil society?
via @justinpickard
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/feb/02/surveillance-drone-industy-pr-effort
(...)
"A talk three months ago at the Royal Aeronautical Society by Colin Burbidge, UAVSA's head of information services, cited the website Drone Wars UK as an example of the negative publicity the industry must overcome. Drone Wars documents the use of drones in conflict zones and features a database of over 80 UAV crashes around the world dating back four years.
"Chris Cole, the Drone Wars founder, accused the industry of trying to undermine "genuine public debate" about the use of UAVs in Britain. "They know the public don't like it," Cole told the Guardian.
"John Moreland, the general secretary of UAVSA, said the industry is uncomfortable with the word "drones" and wants to find new terminology. "If they're brightly coloured, and people know why they're there, it makes them a lot more comfortable," he said.
"We want to be associated with safe, civil applications [of UAVs] that have a humanitarian, ecological and environmental benefit."
"Another UAV consortium, including arms manufacturer BAE Systems, has been advised by airspace regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to "paint a more positive picture" of drones to combat fears about "big brother" and "spy in the sky".
"The consortium, named Astraea, has received over £30m in public funding as part of an eight-year programme aiming to enable the deployment of drones in all classes of UK airspace, unhindered by restrictive conditions of operation.
"Since July 2010, the Ministry of Defence has tested Watchkeeper drones at two restricted "danger zones" in Aberporth, West Wales, at a dedicated UAV centre, and at Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, a military zone.
"UAVs for commercial use have also been tested by private firms in Aberporth, the Guardian has learned, with plans afoot to create corridors of segregated airspace between the Wales drone site and others, including Salisbury, though the CAA says a formal proposal has not yet been made.
"Industry sources see the move as part of a progression towards larger sections of UK airspace becoming segregated in the near future, leading to an area of the sky sanctioned explicitly for the use of drones for a range of purposes, including law enforcement, border patrol, firefighting and road traffic monitoring.
"The full integration of UAVs across all levels of UK airspace, however, is still considered a long way off.... (((Although it isn't. Not at all.)))
(((Boing-Boing: PASSIVE TOOL OF DARPA GENOCIDE COVER-UP?!)))
http://demilit.tumblr.com/post/16586056738/waiting-for-doctorow
(((Being a drone fan, and imagining this emergent struggle has nothing to do with you... it's like being a fan of atom science and thinking Nagasaki was some kind of accident. You just gotta be aware of the ambiguities while also knowing that there will be tremendous efforts to freeze, personalize and polarize the issues. If you don't believe me, try writing the words ISRAELI DRONE on a t-shirt and walk around outside. You don't even have to say you like 'em or don't like 'em; the mere fact that you acknowledge them is enough for some piping geopolitical hot water.)))
http://dronewarsuk.wordpress.com/
