09 March, 2013

Rand Paul Drone Filibuster: The Senator Has a Point | New Republic

Rand Paul Drone Filibuster: The Senator Has a Point | New Republic: Scoff all you want, but here's the thing: The prospect of the government or local law enforcement using armed drones to target people on American soil was discussed as a very real issue at a recent gathering of the drone lobby that I attended in Newport News, Virginia, the subject of a piece in the current issue of the magazine. The two-day gathering, organized by the Hampton Roads chapter of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (aka the drone lobby), was focused on the vast opportunities and equally big challenges of the civilian market for drones—for crop monitoring, package delivery, police search and rescue efforts, you name it. There was much talk about the ethical quandaries and potential popular resistance associated with these uses.