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No Drones Over My Back Yard, Google's Schmidt Warns

Posted by Dave G on April 15, 2013 at 9:00pm

0415-drone-630x420.jpgEric Schmidt is at it again:

... In comments made to the Guardian, Schmidt called for international regulation of civilian drone technology and, going a step further, for an outright ban of inexpensive “everyman” minidrones. Schmidt’s comments are the most forceful yet by a technology executive on the need to protect individuals’ privacy from a promising high-tech growth sector....

Read full article at link above.

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  • Eugene Potapov April 22, 2013 at 6:46am

    Did some researching on the subject. It appears that the Independent was publishing something on the GOOGLE much earlier: http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/google-is-watching-yo...

    the cover is here http://ext4.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/independent-070524-google.jpg

    Google, please do not be evil!

    32k Americans dead on the roads per year (http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx)

    11k Americans dead due to firearms per year (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/homicide.htm)

    And in the days of the gun street terror Schmidt called to ban the culprit: the UAV. Anybody died? Any complaints? May be rednecked neighbors hiding illegal guns will complaint?

    Thank you BIG-Brother_Schmidt, but please use your senses, and pleeese, search google for facts. Sure you have access to un-biased search....

  • Paul Barsamian April 22, 2013 at 6:22am

    Mark my words this is going the way of the gun control argument, except there's no NDA (National Drone Association) to lobby for us.

     

  • Jared Reabow April 22, 2013 at 12:37am

    @Schmidt I am calling for a BAN on Google glass, I am worried it will invade my privacy and that of the public!
    Just think about people recording you all day with their glasses, you never aware if they are actually recording.

    If it is not banned i call for an audible warning to play "RECORDING, RECORDING" for the duration of the recording.

    I also call for a Ban of Google maps!, i am worried terrorists will use it to plan attacks on the west!

  • Eugene Potapov April 19, 2013 at 10:20am

    May be Schmidt refer to this incident of 2007 http://diydrones.com/profiles/blog/show?id=705844%3ABlogPost%3A1685 and saw something there?

  • Moderator
    Dean Wynton April 18, 2013 at 12:54am

    In most places you need a license to fly commercially, strangely enough I was flying mine in Northern Sweden a few weeks ago :) I think peoples main concern is the non-commercial use of this technology?

  • Göran Sandström April 17, 2013 at 4:10am

    @Mathew I don't quite follow you... Am I paranoid because I believe that a head of Google would like to secure his investment? Not to mention that trying to make himself out to be someone that cares about privacy could be beneficial from a PR standpoint given the recent concers over Google Glass (which I think our unfounded personally)

    I'm against guns btw, I just used it as an example... people who want to shoot down drones are usually gun nuts that believe obama's presidency is illegitimate and a part of a conspiracy, which really cracks me up but it's also quite scary.

    In Sweden, where I live, the laws work really well, to use a UAV commercially you need a license.

  • Developer
    Bill Bonney April 17, 2013 at 12:44am
    I think it's interesting why he didn't say say that privacy laws should be updated in the US and drones should be regulated. To mention privacy would be incendiary, but drones an easy target. I agree with others that this is an ill thought out knee jerk reaction by a rich person, and not one that would benifit from positive use of aerial surveillance. In the light of a company who's now only obvious mission is to funnel all information ilt can to its data servers, its
    beyond belief he even said anything at all!
  • Jesse April 17, 2013 at 12:09am

    I can understand to some degree, you don't want your neighbors pervert kid going out and buying an ARDrone and flying it up to look into your daughters window each night.  but for most of us, we're more interested in flying the drone and the technology than anything else...

    banning all drones is on par with banning all camera's because someone might misuse one somewhere... 

     

    at least you know the dude with the drone isn't too far away; google advertise your business to everyone, hell someone can scope out a persons house anywhere in the world and plan a robery from home, rock up first time in a city and rob the place with little effort, all thanks to street view... nobody would be able to find someone that did that...

  • FPV Quads April 16, 2013 at 11:01pm

    WOW, I am just thinking here, how could Google even say something like this in public. This is just very stupid and crazy. I love Goggle and most Goggle products. But now I feel the need to rethink this fully. Google Glass will invade more privacy issues than any other tech product on the market. 

    Very strange for sure.

    I vote for daily fly overs and post them on Google owned "YouTube". What is his address again?

  • Robbie Edwards April 16, 2013 at 7:41pm

    This is the day my opinion of Google has changed for the worst.

This reply was deleted.