Drones will darken the skies of federal lands.

[AreWeLostYet]

STREET-LEVEL SURVEILLANCE 
Article at Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF)

https://www.eff.org/pages/dronesunmanned-aerial-vehicles

Laugh. They laughed when I told my college business class in 1988  that insurance companies would be using your medical history (now called "preexisting condition") against you when you applied for health insurance. They laughed when I said everything in 1984 like a TV that watches you back, fake news factories ("Ministry of Truth") and surveillance cameras everywhere, was coming to reality.

It might take two or six years. But drones are going to be criss-crossing public lands on constant patrol. They will know everything up to the minute - where vehicles are; where (with infrared imaging) warm blooded animals are trying to hide; license plate reading of vehicles; relationships of vehicles appearing in in the same place (metadata-who you're hanging with); gunshot detection; campfires; trash left when you leave. It will all be filed away and acted upon if someone has a wim.

I'm not talking the consumer quad-copter drone. Neither am I talking the Predator drones currently use to hunt and kill terrorists. The field of drones is exploding. The billion dollar industry is designing and manufacturing custom drones for every purpose. Many can remain aloft for days without refueling. Many are electric powered. Remote, solar powered recharging stations would be easy to construct. This can be done and so it will because there doesn't seem to be anything to stop anything these days.

 

[John61CT]

Yes of course, only a matter of time.

And if they did not do this they would need to shut down public access.

 

[kaBLOOnie Boonster]

Yes, surveillance drones on public lands are certainly coming. And when the process is complete, do you think there will still be youTubes, blogs, and discussion topics about "stealth" camping?

I'll bet the topic will survive, and people will keep fooling themselves.

 

[AreWeLostYet]

Yes of course, only a matter of time.

And if they did not do this they would need to shut down public access.

They'll do this regardless of anything. I know this just as George Orwell knew  that video technology would progress to the point that it would be used the way it is now back in 1949, at the dawn of television becoming the new hearth in American and eventually worldwide, homes.

New technologies will be used for surveillance, by government and private and criminal concerns as well. And it is just obvious where it will go that it will become of concern to off-gridders/boondockers etc. They search out the backroads to, among other things, gain privacy and I'm afraid the eye in the sky is about to take that away from them, in fact may make them more easily monitored than if they were tied to a single brick and mortar address.

 

[tx2sturgis]

I fly drones...maybe that is a job opportunity for me!

 

[AreWeLostYet]

Yes, surveillance drones on public lands are certainly coming. And when the process is complete, do you think there will still be youTubes, blogs, and discussion topics about "stealth" camping?

I'll bet the topic will survive, and people will keep fooling themselves.

Many factors can affect the continued access to boondockland. First and foremost is just the gates remaining open. Government could decide today to issue an order to lock all the unimproved roads leading into the off-highway areas of federal land. The roads without them could be provided gates or, as I've seen done, haul large boulders into the road entry point to keep 4 wheelers out. And it will all be blamed on boondockers. Off-roaders, hunters, fishermen, mountain bikers, nature photographers, mountain climbers, backpackers will all blame boondockers as the reason the roads are closed off.

 

[Matlock]

Wow, I wonder how many drones that would take? That's a bunch of drones, to darken the whole sky.

New tech will only exist where a profit is made. When tx2 gets a contract it's time for concern, don't ya know.

Me thinks the sky is up and secure, so far. C. Little

 

[johnny b]

For every offense, there is a defense...if concerned, just be prepared.  

 

[AMGS3]

Maybe there's a way that this could be used to fight those litterbugs who leave garbage scattered all over. Like if those people who "pack in" but are too lazy to bother with "packing out" were held responsible, with a fine, etc. I'd be all for that.

Since satellite imagery has gotten so much clearer lately, I just assume that whenever I'm outside I could be being viewed. It's only really unsettling for a little while. I'm getting much more out of being out in the woods/by the lake/in nature than they are getting out of seeing me out there. It's not like I'm doing anything illegal.

~angie

Sent from my VS501 using Tapatalk

 

[Putts]

I fly drones...maybe that is a job opportunity for me!

Nah, computers will do the flying and analysis. First human intervention will be when the computer asks if further action is needed on a perceived anomaly.

The question is: "What will be anomalies?"

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Nah, computers will do the flying and analysis. First human intervention will be when the computer asks if further action is needed on a perceived anomaly.   for permission to arm and fire.

 

[QinReno]

You guys give me an idea here for dealing with certain a**h*l*s who haunt public lands. On my recent stay on BLM land in Oregon, not only did the previous campers leave a huge mess behind, but also the idiot locals would come in in the afternoons and shoot up bottles placed on rocks in the two adjacent campsites. I didn't much feel like going over to talk to the morons myself, as I have an aversion to confronting people who are holding semi-automatic weapons with bump-stocks, but if I had a drone I could have flown it over and taken some photos, hopefully doing so quickly enough the morons wouldn't have a chance to shoot it down.

Of course, we all love this guy, but we should be trying to work with the people who administer public lands, rather than giving them reason for hunting us down.
https://vanlivingforum.com/attachment.php?thumbnail=19979

 

[DannyB1954]

It would be very easy for the Government to say you need a permit with location to camp anywhere in the forest. This permit would have a specific location marked on a map. If you are camped somewhere else or don't have a permit, then there would be penalties. The campsite could be checked for litter the day you start, and the day you left.

 

[AreWeLostYet]

It would be very easy for the Government to say you need a permit with location to camp anywhere in the forest. This permit would have a specific location marked on a map. If you are camped somewhere else or don't have a permit, then there would be penalties. The campsite could be checked for litter the day you start, and the day you left.

The Drone "Ranger" (that's what the rangers are really afraid of) would visit the GPS location and scan it for changes from the "before" picture it took when you made your reservation. Laugh. You'll be crying in 2 to 6 years.

 

[AreWeLostYet]

Nah, computers will do the flying and analysis. First human intervention will be when the computer asks if further action is needed on a perceived anomaly.

The question is: "What will be anomalies?"

The results of drone reconnaissance will produce a report that will be reviewed by an administrator. Areas of priority concern will be flagged and the admin will decide if further attention is required. Otherwise, the drone will be autonomous, patrolling it's area schedule, day and night, weekends and holidays included.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Nineteen Eighty-Four.

 

[QinReno]

Seriously, you guys are getting a little too carried away. The typical drone can fly for about 5-minutes before the battery goes dead. Hardly 365/24/7. It's unlikely a miracle energy source will appear anytime soon. Ask Elon. Also, there are 247 million acres of BLM land and 188 million acres of NF lands. Going to darken the skies? Not hardly. They aren't going to send 8,000,000 Predator drones at $4,000,000 apiece to watch you guys camping in the outback. (OTOH, I'd stay out of the cities if I were you guys!).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Land_Management
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._National_Forests

 

[John61CT]

And what they used to call a portable computer weighed 20 tons and required two separate 40' trailers to carry around.

No one is saying soon, nor everywhere.

 

[QinReno]

More stats: there are 200 law enforcement rangers in the BLM and 737 in the NF service (as of a few years ago), while there are 18,000 police "departments" in the US, a million or so officers, and 40,000 police in NYC alone.

https://www.blm.gov/programs/public-safety-and-fire/law-enforcement/what-we-do
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Forest_Service
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_enforcement_in_the_United_States
https://datausa.io/profile/soc/333050/

Figure it out ... stay out of the cities, and head for the country. But whatever you do, always wear a hat so the satellites can't I.D. you.

 

[QinReno]

And what they used to call a portable computer weighed 20 tons and required two separate 40' trailers to carry around.

Wrongful comparison. Microchips and electronics have shrunk down by millions of times over the past 50-years, but the power sources have not. Also, you can make a similar analogy between computer and automobile/drone/etc, but the auto/etc would be too small to see, let alone get inside of and use as an RV.