The peril of domestic drones
Local police have begun using unmanned Predator drones like those used in Afghanistan and Pakistan to conduct surveillance of criminal suspects right here in the U.S., said Glenn Greenwald in Salon.com.
Glenn Greenwald
Salon.com
Drone warfare is now coming to your own backyard, said Glenn Greenwald. This chilling step toward “a Surveillance State”—without the public’s knowledge or consent—was revealed last week by the Los Angeles Times, which detailed the use of two Predators to spy on and apprehend three North Dakota farmers. The farmers—who belong to a group that claims the federal government has no authority—had refused to hand over six cows that wandered onto their land. Police called in the drones, whose high-resolution cameras pinpointed the men’s location and determined that they were unarmed.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It’s no accident that some of the first Americans to be targeted by drones were political dissidents. Will “dangerous” Tea Partiers or Occupy Wall Street protesters be next? Drones have an unprecedented ability to hover silently overhead for hours, and are “the ultimate tool for invasive, sustained surveillance and control.” You’d have to be “pathologically naïve” not to see the potential for abuse.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why more and more adults are reaching for soft toys
Under The Radar Does the popularity of the Squishmallow show Gen Z are 'scared to grow up'?
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Magazine solutions - December 27, 2024 / January 3, 2025
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - December 27, 2024 / January 3, 2025
By The Week US Published
-
Magazine printables - December 27, 2024 / January 3, 2025
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - December 27, 2024 / January 3, 2025
By The Week US Published
-
Viewpoint: Michael S. Teitelbaum and Jay M. Winter
feature From The New York Times: “Nearly half of all people now live in countries where women, on average, give birth to fewer than 2.1 babies...
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Snowden’s silence on Putin
feature If Edward Snowden truly is a moral paragon, then he should announce that he can no longer stomach Vladimir Putin’s oppressive behavior.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
The irrelevance of the United Nations
feature Once again, the United Nations has been “rendered impotent by a small group of thugs.”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Millions of closeted gay men
feature “What percent of American men are gay?”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
The smug confidence of libertarians
feature Why are most libertarians white dudes?
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Seeing racism for what it is
feature Riley Cooper’s case shows just how poorly he and most other Americans understand “what a racist is.”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Searching for a libertarian paradise
feature Not one of the world’s 193 sovereign states—not even a tiny one—has adopted a full-on libertarian system.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Viewpoint: Juliette Kayyem
feature From The Boston Globe: “It is now clear that the Tsarnaev brothers had no strategic plan but to kill in a very public fashion....
By The Week Staff Last updated