It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's.... Spy Balloons? - US military testing spy balloons to follow cars and boats

[rcmaehl]

Source:
The Guardian
 

Summary:
The US is taking a low tech approaching to spying on it's own citizens by testing high-altitude spy balloons to follow cars and boats for extended periods

 

Media: 

(Actual spy balloon not shown. Your balloon based law enforcement may vary by region. Do not try this at home)

 

Quotes/Excerpts:

Quote

The US military is conducting wide-area surveillance tests across six midwest states using experimental high-altitude balloons. 25 unmanned solar-powered balloons are being launched from rural South Dakota and drifting 250 miles through an area spanning portions of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri, before concluding in central Illinois. At altitudes of up to 65,000ft, the balloons are intended to “provide a persistent surveillance system to locate and deter narcotic trafficking and homeland security threats”. The balloons are carrying hi-tech radars designed to simultaneously track many individual vehicles day or night, through any kind of weather. “What this new technology proposes is to watch everything at once. Sometimes it’s referred to as ‘combat TiVo’ because when an event happens somewhere in the surveilled area, you can potentially rewind the tape. “We do not think that American cities should be subject to wide-area surveillance in which every vehicle could be tracked wherever they go”. For many years, Sierra Nevada has supplied Southcom with light aircraft packed with millions of dollars’ worth of sensors, which then flew over Mexico, Colombia, Panama and the Caribbean sea. But planes require expensive crews and can only fly for a few hours at a time. “While improving efficiency, we still only successfully interdicted about six percent of known drug movements [in 2018].” The new balloons promise a cheap surveillance platform that could follow multiple cars and boats for extended periods. “The very nature of [these balloons] is that they can operate for weeks and months,” Raven Aerostar, the company that is supplying the balloons for Southcom’s tests and launching them from its facility in South Dakota, told the Guardian that it has had balloons remain aloft for nearly a month. Southcom’s balloons are carrying small, satellite-like vehicles housing sophisticated sensors and communication gear. One of those sensors is a synthetic aperture radar intended to detect every car or boat in motion on a 25-mile swath beneath the balloon. The balloons also have advanced mesh networking technologies. “Obviously, there are laws to protect people’s privacy and we are respectful of all those laws,” Hartman said. “We also understand the importance of operating in an ethical way as it relates to further protecting people’s privacy.”

 

My Thoughts:

It's nice to see that the US is going for a more economical approach compared to planes, drones, and replacing the all bird species^/s. Regardless, this feels like an extremely low-tech solution. Like 3 epoch difference in Age of Empries. Regardless, it's interesting to see the US rolling out mass visual surveillance similar to other global powers. I'm sure some people will find this acceptable as it's tracking vehicles, not people; others will absolutely despise this. 

[Guest]

  ....

[Ashiella]

up?

[ARikozuM]

Nearly any type of mass surveillance is going to get a no-vote from me. We've already experienced these street cameras being used for wrongful ticketing when they were said to be for "traffic violations".

[rcmaehl]

3 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Nearly any type of mass surveillance is going to get a no-vote from me. We've already experienced these street cameras being used for wrongful ticketing when they were said to be for "traffic violations".

 

You're not wrong

[rcmaehl]

2 minutes ago, CircleTech said:

is the image north korea's spy balloons?

Early NK international weapons test. Was obviously found to be too slow. 

[ARikozuM]

3 minutes ago, CircleTech said:

is the image north korea's spy balloons?

Looks more like Mississippi.

[Mira Yurizaki]

5 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Nearly any type of mass surveillance is going to get a no-vote from me. We've already experienced these street cameras being used for wrongful ticketing when they were said to be for "traffic violations".

The problem with those is that they were installed by private contractors and it's likely they would also get a cut of the ticket fine. So it was in their best interest to put the cameras in the maximum profitable position.

 

Still, not downplaying what you're saying here in general.

[ARikozuM]

1 minute ago, CircleTech said:

Traffic tickets and city fines should be distributed to local charities and non-profits instead of being used in a city's budget. This would effectively wipe out the incentive to ticket and fine a city's citizens just to line the politicians pockets. 

LOL, no. 

 

The money should be put into an investment program and then, at the beginning of the year, divvied up equally to those who were without ticket or citation. Non-profits and charities aren't the ones contributing to the installations, the taxpayers are and they should receive repayment/reimbursements (preferably tax-free). 

[ARikozuM]

2 minutes ago, Mira Yurizaki said:

The problem with those is that they were installed by private contractors and it's likely they would also get a cut of the ticket fine. So it was in their best interest to put the cameras in the maximum profitable position.

Anyone else wondering why a giant magnet seems to roll by around noon every day? 

 

[Brooksie359]

2 minutes ago, Mira Yurizaki said:

The problem with those is that they were installed by private contractors and it's likely they would also get a cut of the ticket fine. So it was in their best interest to put the cameras in the maximum profitable position.

 

Still, not downplaying what you're saying here in general.

I highly doubt that the contractor get a portion of the fine. Most government jobs are based on hours of work combined with a bid of total cost of the project and not some on going incentive payments.

[The King of the Undead]

all you need to stop this is a spud gun.

[Mira Yurizaki]

Just now, Brooksie359 said:

I highly doubt that the contractor get a portion of the fine. Most government jobs are based on hours of work combined with a bid of total cost of the project and not some on going incentive payments.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/red-light-cameras-come-under-fire-at-least-7-states-trying-to-ban-them

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/red-light-camera-controversy/

https://worldjusticeproject.org/news/3-private-companies-making-money-red-light-tickets

https://www.politifact.com/rhode-island/statements/2015/jun/14/hillary-davis/aclu-says-profits-traffic-cameras-go-private-compa/

 

There has been reports that companies are wiggling their way in getting a cut of the traffic fine for operating red light cameras. Or at the very least, found ways to give the area an incentive to fine as many people as possible. Most damningly some places privatized the law enforcement.

[rcmaehl]

Just now, will4623 said:

all you need to stop this is a spud gun.

The FAA would like a word with you

[The King of the Undead]

Just now, rcmaehl said:

The FAA would like a word with you

I mean if it bothers you it isn't hard to get rid of

[Zodiark1593]

1 hour ago, rcmaehl said:

 

You're not wrong

If I was particularly devious, I'd use AI to monitor average speed and time the lights accordingly to maximize the time of indecision. If traffic is moving fast, tightening up the timing could result in more violations. Likewise, loosening the tining when traffic flow is slower could coax some people into attempting to run the yellow. 

 

*insert Dr. Evil laugh here*

[maartendc]

To those making fun of this idea, or thinking it is weird. It makes a lot of sense, and is surely not the only military use of balloons:

 

- They don't need refueling

- They don't run out of batteries

- They are cheap

- They are silent

- They can stay up 24/7 (until they break or Helium evaporates)

- They fly very steadily, and stay stationary (depending on the wind I guess)

- They can have a reasonably big payload, depending on the size of the balloon

 

The only downside is they are pretty vulnerable, and probably need to be replaced every so often.

[Mira Yurizaki]

7 minutes ago, maartendc said:

The only downside is they are pretty vulnerable, and probably need to be replaced every so often.

If the payload is heavy enough and has the right aerodynamics for high terminal velocity, it also represents an injury hazard depending on the location.

[ravenshrike]

1 hour ago, will4623 said:

all you need to stop this is a spud gun.

Please post the design of a spud gun that can reach 65,000 feet. I would like to build one. Even a rifle bullet fired straight up would be luckky to hit 20,000 ft.

[The King of the Undead]

2 hours ago, ravenshrike said:

Please post the design of a spud gun that can reach 65,000 feet. I would like to build one. Even a rifle bullet fired straight up would be luckky to hit 20,000 ft.

Ok A drone spud gun.

[Doobeedoo]

Balloonpunk 2020? 

[Billy Pilgrim]

On 8/2/2019 at 1:00 PM, rcmaehl said:

(Actual spy balloon not shown. Your balloon based law enforcement may vary by region. Do not try this at home)

Of course I won't try this at my home. The ceiling would get in the way. A nearby park would work better.

[Fnige]

7 hours ago, Billy Pilgrim said:

Of course I won't try this at my home. The ceiling would get in the way. A nearby park would work better.

Youre supposed to use a rocket launcher to help you out

[Billy Pilgrim]

18 minutes ago, SlimyPython said:

Youre supposed to use a rocket launcher to help you out

Well how else am I supposed to do it?

[Fnige]

Just now, Billy Pilgrim said:

Well how else am I supposed to do it?

Jump, Jump fast enough youll break the barrier ^{(either one)}