Surveillance drone used to spy on concert attendees

Published: September 4, 2007, 2:02 pm

Tags: ai robotics, big brother, police state

London Times Sep 4, 2007 by Heather Brooke Two weekends ago at the V Festival, revellers were surprised to see a remote-controlled surveillance drone flying and filming overhead. Little to nothing was known beforehand about the drone's use, and news reports after the fact shed little light on why or how its use was approved. I put in a Freedom of Information Act request and discovered that the drone was part of a sales demo by a company called MW Power at the invitation of Staffordshire Police. What about the legality of the drone, I asked the police? They wondered why I was asking. Was I a competitor? Did I want to sell them a drone? It was unbelievable to the police, I suppose, that a citizen might be concerned about her privacy. MW Power told me that more than half of Britain's police forces have asked for a drone demo and many are finalising packages to buy the 30,000 kit this without any public discussion about whether it is a useful way of combating

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