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DIY Drones mentioned in UK Daily Mail article

Posted by Chris Anderson on May 2, 2010 at 9:39am
In an article entitled "The Rise of the Robo-Fighters", Britain's Daily Mail newspaper discusses us:

"The website DIY Drones is a thriving community of do-it-yourself drone builders and operators, building drones that look eerily similar to - or are copies of - the weapons employed currently by the West. For a terrorist, or a lone psychopath, the idea of a vehicle that could launch, find targets and attack autonomously must seem like the ultimate risk-free weapon - a suicide bomb without a suicide bomber."

What's troubling about this is the notion that "drones = weapons". But until the regulators open up national airspace to more civilian/commercial use that shows more peaceful use cases, I suppose this is going to be something we're going to continue to have to fight/educate against.

[Thanks to Gary Mortimer for the find. Photo taken from the article]
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Comments

  • Breaksbassbleeps May 2, 2010 at 1:59pm
    The Daily Mail doing its best to spread paranoia, again..
  • Moderator
    Gary Mortimer May 2, 2010 at 1:56pm
    It seemed a bit of an afterthought or orphan that paragraph. A request for comment before going to press would have been more in order.
  • AVS May 2, 2010 at 1:56pm
    I want to emigrate from england. Help please :)

    Anyway, please bear in mind that the readers of the daily mail can't actaully read!
  • Overwatch May 2, 2010 at 1:53pm
    It's supposed to leave the reader thinking that we're a sect of hi-tech baby killers. That's what journalism's all about. You're watching the daily news thinking it's more or less OK, but when they touch an area of expertise you know a thing or two about you notice that it's all utter, weapon-grade bullshit. And since that's what everybody's been telling me (engineers, medics, whale biologists, what have you), the only logical conclusion is that all of journalism is like this. A bright future we're headed for.
  • T3
    Rory Paul May 2, 2010 at 12:45pm
    I think a strongly worded note to the Daily Mail is in order. The paragraph about the DIYDrones community is ambiguous enough to leave the reader thinking we are all in this cloning our own little Predators with Hellfire missiles slung underneath for profit.....sensationalism at its best.
  • Ron Jacobs May 2, 2010 at 12:01pm
    Perhaps a note to the Daily Mail is in order to clarify that the people on DIY Drones are not lone psychopaths and that the vast majority of vehicles are not copies nor are they even similar to the weapons currently used by the West. Some are or could possibly be, but only in that they are solving similar concerns of aerodynamics, wing loading, speed ,etc.
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