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German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

arstechnica.com

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Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#41

Post by computeloops »

gojomo wrote: post #29

The blog Marginal Revolution considered the question a few months ago: "What is the political equilibrium when insect-sized drone assassins are available?" http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/06/wha... Adapting my comment from there: One possibility is that in the future, high-status (and thus also high-office) can only be safely held by pseudonymous cryptographic identities that can’t be linked to…

This makes the current setup look so innocent. Probably we should enjoy till it lasts.

Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#42

Post by asgard1024 »

plaguuuuuu wrote: post #7

lol @ the countermeasures being high tech lasers. Spray them with water or vegetable oil. Water is easiest - just use a high pressure hose to knock them out of the sky / potentially break flight-critical components. Oil requires some special equipment but would presumably ruin the propellers/rotors.

Or just use a slingshot. Even kids used to have it.

Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#43

Post by alextingle »

roel_v wrote: post #38
plaguuuuuu wrote: post #7

lol @ the countermeasures being high tech lasers. Spray them with water or vegetable oil. Water is easiest - just use a high pressure hose to knock them out of the sky / potentially break flight-critical components. Oil requires some special equipment but would presumably ruin the propellers/rotors.

The threat is not in a single one of them, the threat is in drone swarms. We (as in: the general public, I'm quite sure secluded labs have working prototypes) don't have the technical details figured out, but in 5 years, it will be possible for a swarm of 100's of these things to appear out of nowhere (from backpacks, rooftops, garbage cans, sewer drains) and, blitzkrieg style, overwhelm even largish targets within m…

> It will take very sophisticated counter measure technology to correctly identify, isolate and attack a sufficiently large part of such a swarm

Or, you know... nets.

Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#44

Post by andybak »

gojomo wrote: post #29

The blog Marginal Revolution considered the question a few months ago: "What is the political equilibrium when insect-sized drone assassins are available?" http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/06/wha... Adapting my comment from there: One possibility is that in the future, high-status (and thus also high-office) can only be safely held by pseudonymous cryptographic identities that can’t be linked to…

And in conclusion - future politicians will be banned from using Google+

Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#45

Post by Someone »

devx wrote: post #37
noonespecial wrote: post #35

Drones are sensational but a deer rifle with a scope is going to be a much bigger threat for a long time to come. RC planes were available in '63 but I doubt Lee Harvey Oswald considered one of those. You can stop "drones" like these with a simple net if they really become a problem.

You're thinking short term. DARPA was already testing drones that can see who you are from 1.8 KM above.

See http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-01/darpa-can-s.... 17500 feet is about 5km, but the video does not indicate that this can see "who you are", although it is close enough for tracking persons.

I wonder why they released that video, though. Do they need more funding? Is it semi-faked to scare off would-be villains? Are the real things way better, and is this a diversion?

Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#46

Post by ajb »

This sort of thing could be done almost as easily without the drone. For example, the 1991 Mortar attack on the British Prime Minister:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downing_Street_mortar_attack

It's worth noting that his response was "democracies cannot be intimidated by terrorism". Our current politicians are more craven.

Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#47

Post by jacquesm »

gojomo wrote: post #29

The blog Marginal Revolution considered the question a few months ago: "What is the political equilibrium when insect-sized drone assassins are available?" http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/06/wha... Adapting my comment from there: One possibility is that in the future, high-status (and thus also high-office) can only be safely held by pseudonymous cryptographic identities that can’t be linked to…

I see some Enders Game references in there.

You may very well be right about your future vision, I'd love to be a fly on a wall somewhere in 2100.

Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#48

Post by jacquesm »

velik_m wrote: post #26
angersock wrote: post #4

Oh great, a lot of fear-mongering about to happen. We honestly can't defend against all of these things--might as well simply try to structure society to be resilient in the face of inevitable attacks, and try not to make such things desirable to anybody even remotely sane.

The obvious solution of course is to move all the people (except select few) underground for their own safety.

I'm going to be in any one of the following businesses:

- light guides

- vitamin D pills

- solaria

Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#49

Post by jacquesm »

stephengillie wrote: post #6
narfquat wrote: post #3

If Battlefield 3 has taught me anything, someone is going to strap a brick of C4 to one soon enough.

I know quadcopters are very sensitive to weight, and a 10oz (285g) quadcopter could probably not carry more than a 1oz (28g) payload. How destructive is 1oz (28g) of C4? I want to see the destructive potential of a quantity of C4 graphed against its weight.

Try this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59ttSwYNspw

Re: German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs

#50

Post by teddyh »

velik_m wrote: post #26
angersock wrote: post #4

Oh great, a lot of fear-mongering about to happen. We honestly can't defend against all of these things--might as well simply try to structure society to be resilient in the face of inevitable attacks, and try not to make such things desirable to anybody even remotely sane.

The obvious solution of course is to move all the people (except select few) underground for their own safety.

The Computer is your friend.
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