Whatever the “reputation” of police departments may be, in theory at least, they’re required to get warrants before they actually get inside your home, whether virtually (i.e., using wiretaps or drones) or physically (i.e., by knocking down the door). To get a warrant, they’re supposed to show “probable cause” to believe you’re doing something unlawful. I know, the system can be abused, but with multiple layers of judicial review, there’s some protection for us. At the federal level, of course, all bets are off under the Bush-era “homeland security” rules, but that’s another story.

On the other hand, the corporate snoops get details about our personal lives, including our finances, by feeding us trivial bribes and concealing their intent. And no one is even thinking about reining them in. Consumer activists had to fight like ravenous dogs just to get the credit bureaus to give us an annual peek at the credit reports they compile on us. The even-more-detailed “marketing” reports they compile about all of us, which are tied in to our credit reports, are totally out of reach — except for any corporation or government agency that’s willing to pay them for those reports. Big Brother isn’t the government.

Incidentially, I think I saw a black helicopter once – it was flying over Washington, DC so according to people like Mr. Jones, it obviously must have been the federal government spying on themselves.

I’m well aware of how to spell moron, thank you very much. If you’ve never heard that usage before, that’s hardly my fault.

Drones are no worse than helicopters. Think about that.

If you’re especially paranoid, a few large ceiling fans (with metal blades, natch) and some of those metallized mylar balloons waving around in the interior breeze will also help. (Yes, radar that can “see” through concrete walls has recently been demonstrated. Unless your tinfoil is superconducting, some radar will still get through, and with enough radar and enough signal processing, they can spot moving blobs.)

Just trying to do my bit to help. Even a “Patriot” has the right to private sex with their wife on the toilet.

Also: “Ideas are bulletproof.” Did he steal that from V for Vendetta, or did he take it from somewhere else?

And if you have the audacity to call anyone a moron, please learn how to spell the word.

But putting UAVs in the hands of police quite possibly sets a new low for police respect for civil liberties. For police departments to use drones for surveillance on private citizens invites a very dangerous possibility. Not only could there be mistakes (targeting innocent people with police harassment and arrests, treating them like criminals), but spying on people could cause private information (totally unrelated to violations of the law) to spread unwillingly. I for one do not want every aspect of anyone’s personal life, including my own, to be the subject of casual office conversation at local police departments. As Phillip notes above, It would be interesting to see what the police plan to do with these devices, in addition to what regulations they have set up surrounding their use. However, I concur with Phillip that Alex Jones is not reliable enough as a source of information about this. He has a tendency to engage in paranoia, exaggeration, and fearmongering, and he even resembles a cult leader at times.

One example of his many exaggerations is in the title of this video (uploaded by his official YouTube account), which reads “Obama to Ban Asthma Inhalers!”. This leads to the misleading conclusion that Obama really planned on doing such a thing, whereas in reality, the ban was on CFCs in inhalers. Of course, inhalers can be produced without CFCs, which would not be illegal to do.

Teh stupid, it burns…..

But I’d rather get a report from the ACLU or Electronic Frontier Foundation than Alex Jones

Wait a second. Is this Alex Jones or Dan Savage we’re talking about?

What a maroon…