Drug cartel assassinates its enemies with bomb-toting drones • Hacker News Board

Re: Drug cartel assassinates its enemies with bomb-toting drones

#61

Post by webmaven » Mon, Aug 31, 2020, 1:40 AM UTC

whatshisface wrote: post #31

r00fus wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could this become like other cheap, easy to manufacture societal disruptions like drugs - solution being: make them illegal.

Someone should write a book set in a science fiction dystopia where you have to apply for a specific permit to construct any device or write any software (lest you make a drone or a singularity AI), and where machine tools are carefully controlled and limited to regularly inspected industrial facilities.

> Someone should write a book set in a science fiction dystopia where you have to apply for a specific permit to construct any device or write any software (lest you make a drone or a singularity AI), and where machine tools are carefully controlled and limited to regularly inspected industrial facilities.

Something like RMS' story, The Right to Read?:

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.en.html

Re: Drug cartel assassinates its enemies with bomb-toting drones

#62

Post by mycall » Mon, Aug 31, 2020, 1:40 AM UTC

adenozine wrote: post #30

I've been worrying about this for years. What's next is micro-chemical attacks. Drones that can cloud an individual or small group of people. They'll think it was just dust or something, the thing zips off into the sky, and the linings of their lungs starts dissolving and they die.

Shouldn't these drones be pretty easy to signal jam? I mean cartels don't really care about the law anyways.

Re: Drug cartel assassinates its enemies with bomb-toting drones

#63

Post by R0b0t1 » Mon, Aug 31, 2020, 1:41 AM UTC

throwanem wrote: post #55

adenozine wrote: post #30

I've been worrying about this for years. What's next is micro-chemical attacks. Drones that can cloud an individual or small group of people. They'll think it was just dust or something, the thing zips off into the sky, and the linings of their lungs starts dissolving and they die.

Why does that make more sense than a bomb that just straight up kills a dude? Chemical agents are difficult and dangerous to synthesize, but you can get explosives anywhere there's a mining industry.

Chemical weapons require some specialized knowledge but within that field it is not an impossible task. It is mostly the acquisition of the raw materials.

If you can do a drug synthesis you could probably synthesize a chemical weapon.

Re: Drug cartel assassinates its enemies with bomb-toting drones

#64

Post by jb775 » Mon, Aug 31, 2020, 1:42 AM UTC

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #32

dathinab wrote: post #10

Man I knew it was just a matter of time for this to happen, to easy to do and to many intelligent people with no morals (or just desperate, threatened etc.). Anyway thinks like this make it more likely for unreasonable regulations, like even small drones being tracked when used or similar. But the bad joke is it's pointless as: - The "bad" people can always circumvent such measurements (it's illegal but you plan to d…

Is it unreasonable for small drones to be tracked? It's way too easy to get footage of private property or through otherwise obscured windows with drones. Regulation doesn't have to be unreasonable.

There's already legislation in place requiring that drones over 250g be registered with the FAA.

They're also in the process of drafting legislation that would require drone pilots to sync flights in real time via internet connection. This is controversial however since many drone flights take place outside of internet connected areas (very remote areas, middle of national park, etc). The response from the drone community is that drones themselves should be required to broadcast a wifi network, so nearby planes/helicopters can be alerted when there's a drone nearby. So there's definitely regulation in the works, but the drone community is primarily worried they will be squeezed out in favor of commercial drone interests.

An interesting thing to point out is that the DJI mavic mini only weighs 249g (designed this way on purpose), making it a exempt from these regulations but still extremely capable (have had one for a few months now).

Re: Drug cartel assassinates its enemies with bomb-toting drones

#65

Post by vulcan01 » Mon, Aug 31, 2020, 1:42 AM UTC

jdc wrote: post #47

barkingcat wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also engaged in massive transcontinental drug trafficking, and in many cases were vertically integrated. They owned the land/fields, the people/slaves, the plantations, the drug crops/opium poppies, the processing chain, and also the sales, and the troops/armies were used to force people to take/buy drugs. If you refused to buy or take the drugs, they would burn your entire country down to ashes, and of course,…

Could you name a couple of countries they burned down because nobody would buy or take drugs?

The Opium Wars between China and the British Empire were a result of China's attempt to shut down the opium trade.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Opium-Wars

Re: Drug cartel assassinates its enemies with bomb-toting drones

#66

Post by roywiggins » Mon, Aug 31, 2020, 1:44 AM UTC

mycall wrote: post #62

adenozine wrote: post #30

I've been worrying about this for years. What's next is micro-chemical attacks. Drones that can cloud an individual or small group of people. They'll think it was just dust or something, the thing zips off into the sky, and the linings of their lungs starts dissolving and they die.

Shouldn't these drones be pretty easy to signal jam? I mean cartels don't really care about the law anyways.

Only if you see them coming; if you have to run the jammer at all times, that's just a homing beacon for drones.

Re: Drug cartel assassinates its enemies with bomb-toting drones

#67

Post by narrator » Mon, Aug 31, 2020, 1:44 AM UTC

dane-pgp wrote: post #19

vmception wrote: post #6

Interesting map, its crazy how often these groups fracture and splinter! Really wish one of these would go publicly traded and report revenue, leading to real price discovery of these operations and ability to manage risk. There are permissionless systems they can use now to list shares, and if they have a liquidity issue they just need to take over a dam and generate some electricity for themselves for their crypto…

If these groups effectively control territory, then maybe formalizing that control rather than trying to fight against it makes sense. That way, instead of a cartel trying to infiltrate and bribe the local law enforcement, the law enforcement could be paid a competitive and transparent monthly fee in return for helping to protect the cartel's territory. (This would mean arresting competing cartel members caught there…

Cartels have a feudalists political structure. I don't think feudalism is really a thing in the modern world.

Re: Drug cartel assassinates its enemies with bomb-toting drones

#68

Post by duck2 » Mon, Aug 31, 2020, 1:44 AM UTC

Animats wrote: post #58

Small armed drones could be the game-changer the AK-47 was. Before the AK-47, revolt against an army with machine guns was almost impossible. "Whatever happens, we have got ... The Maxim gun - and they have not." Post AK-47, the guerillas usually win, or at least can keep the struggle going on indefinitely. The combination of drones for assassination and Bitcoin for payment could force everyone with money or power in…

Drones are easy to jam. The communication link and GPS are most obvious targets.

Re: Drug cartel assassinates its enemies with bomb-toting drones

#69

Post by tootahe45 » Mon, Aug 31, 2020, 1:45 AM UTC

bleepblorp wrote: post #4

If this kind of thing keeps up it wouldn't be much of a stretch for drones to be banned from civilian ownership in many parts of the world.

Really all it takes is for one incident where someone gets killed. We live in a ban-happy society that doesn't consider the consequences of banning absolutely everything except maybe videogames.

Re: Drug cartel assassinates its enemies with bomb-toting drones

#70

Post by guscost » Mon, Aug 31, 2020, 1:46 AM UTC

throwanem wrote: post #55

adenozine wrote: post #30

I've been worrying about this for years. What's next is micro-chemical attacks. Drones that can cloud an individual or small group of people. They'll think it was just dust or something, the thing zips off into the sky, and the linings of their lungs starts dissolving and they die.

Why does that make more sense than a bomb that just straight up kills a dude? Chemical agents are difficult and dangerous to synthesize, but you can get explosives anywhere there's a mining industry.

With chemical weapons, a tiny palm-sized drone can lift a deadly payload. And it is not hard to assemble a (very) large fleet of cheap micro-drones, so yeah.