this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2026
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[–] TheStaffmaster@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Bold move in a nation that treats firearms target practice as a sport.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 2 points 3 days ago

First thing I thought of was "TARGET PRACTICE!"

[–] treadful@lemmy.zip 82 points 4 days ago (3 children)

“Normally what would happen… is like one cop would have heard that, flip on the blue lights, race down there… and someone’s about to die,” [Flock CEO Garrett] Langley explained, describing a case in which a woman called 911 on a man, who later turned out to be holding a lighter, not a gun, as initially suspected. “Instead, they launch the drone.”

Langley claimed that “we have thousands and thousands of stories like that where communities are safer now with our drones. They’re safer with our cameras.”

That's your prime example of a community becoming safer? The cops droning a mf because he lit a cigarette and some Karen panicked? You're the CEO of the fucking company with like the worst PR and you say this shit.

[–] turtlesareneat@piefed.ca 28 points 4 days ago

"We know cops are racist so we've lessened their load by making our drones racist too."

"Why are they not clapping"

[–] fartographer@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

How does that even change the situation to make things safer? Are they gonna crash the drone into a suspect to diffuse a situation? Unless Flock is advertising domestic drone strikes, then the only feasible deliverables are more spying and more profiling.

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[–] vegafjord@slrpnk.net 7 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Can we use jammers against them perhaps?

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No. Its highly illegal to jam frequencies. If you find one legal to jam the drone can change frequency.

[–] vegafjord@slrpnk.net 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

At this point, does it matter if its illegal? Lets rather ask is it safe? is it easy to avoid getting caught? is it low risk for damage?

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

It is likely you'll get caught yes.

[–] vegafjord@slrpnk.net 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Same with those destroying flock cameras in general. People still do it.

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 1 points 11 hours ago

No not the same. Destroying a camera you put a mask on and go break it and run away and the punishment is basically nothing. Flying license plate drones would require you to run a jammer which is like activating a beacon on your exact location and carrys a huge punishment.

[–] yermaw@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

A lot of americans already have them. I'm unfamiliar with them, but they've all got names like dezziteegoo and smiffunwessun.

[–] Ostrichgrif@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

Fun as it may be to shoot them out of the sky, that's not super feasible in urban or suburban areas. Don't want to risk the possibility of the bullet hitting someone on the way down and the neighbors probably wouldn't appreciate the gunshots

[–] Zron@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] vegafjord@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 days ago

lovely😍😍

[–] Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 days ago

Converting a little microwave oven to a homemade jammer gun never hurt anyone (it has).

[–] mrmisses@lemmy.world 67 points 4 days ago (7 children)

Are they going to follow FAA rules then or just do whatever they want and kill people every now and then when they crash/fall out of the sky?

[–] beveradb@sh.itjust.works 44 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

No, they'll do whatever they want and kill people deliberately, frequently, whenever they say something which disagrees with the dictatorship state definition of truth. Give it a decade

[–] Poppa_Mo@lemmy.world 11 points 4 days ago

Oh boy. Ain't gonna take that long.

[–] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Isn't there an fcc rule about drones needing to be in the line of sight of the operator

[–] mrmisses@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Yes. They are also not allowed to be over people (including traffic) unless it's just to pass over to move to another area with no people (not allowed to continuously pass over people) unless they are below a certain, very low, weight. I think only one drone fits that category last I checked.

I have my commercial drone license but quit the job that required it so I am a little rusty on the rules

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[–] undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch 56 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (5 children)

Frankly, what a bunch of fucking creeps. Does no one else find it weird that they’re hellbent on spying on people? If it weren’t for the government we’d probably lock up these fucking psychos.

[–] chilicheeselies@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

They will go down kicking and screaming. A company like flock has tons of investor capital. That results in a board putting tons of pressure on executive leadership. They will never go "oops nevermind this was a bad idea". It's just a other front in the class war against the billionaire Epstein class.

Next week having closed courtains will be illegal. What's going on in there? Probably something suspicious! Why is your bathroom window frosted?!

[–] Malyca@lemmy.zip 21 points 4 days ago

I have no doubt this is thiel's work. He needs the data for his surveillance machine.

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[–] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 22 points 4 days ago

In other news, falconry has become unexpectedly popular.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 27 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] popekingjoe@lemmy.world 20 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] Shady_Shiroe@lemmy.world 14 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I forgot that there was a sport meant to help train you for shooting drones out of the sky

[–] Sunnshine@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 days ago

Everyone told you shooting skeet was a useless hobby.

[–] vane@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

They're just copying Chinese ideas, don't they ?

[–] Avicenna@programming.dev 11 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Once this becomes the norm next podcast is "What if we put small tasers on the drones? Our communities become much safer!". And then handguns etc...

And when they get hacked, people will be able to do mass shootings from the comfort of their own homes. That's what I call progress!

[–] daggermoon@piefed.world 21 points 4 days ago (3 children)

It should be legal to destroy corpo property.

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

one thing I learned is that everything is legal as long as you don't get caught.

[–] vegafjord@slrpnk.net 3 points 3 days ago

According to my laws, this is not forbidden.

[–] modus@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago

It is if you ask me.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago
[–] bstix@feddit.dk 2 points 3 days ago

Crowbar stocks is on the rise.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 20 points 4 days ago (3 children)

I've been waiting for this for a long time. Drones are cheap. Automating their flight is a super solved problem. At some point every cop car will have a drone on demand that can pop out and follow. They'll launch some slow movers with big blades and just have them patrol. 30-40 minute flights.

[–] turtlesareneat@piefed.ca 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Skeet shooting: city edition

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time to deploy our own counter-drone drones

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[–] vegafjord@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The drone on the thumbnail looks like the german flag!

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[–] Zomg@piefed.world 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I mean, if it hovers, a laser to a camera is a known thing...

[–] jayb151@piefed.social 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Genuine question...I've only ever thought that was some kind of movie magic we all accepted as reality. Could you blind a camera with any kind of laser pointer? Like, Dollar store shit would work? or it needs to be a special frequency or something?

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[–] honesthenery@thelemmy.club 11 points 4 days ago

No body gonna be driving when the markets crash.

[–] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 10 points 4 days ago (2 children)

A handful in the sky is still a lot less useful than the thousands on the ground. We need them off the streets and then we can deal with the drones.

[–] Chulk@lemmy.ml 5 points 4 days ago

While I agree that the street-level cameras should urgently be taken care of, don't underestimate what a stationary aerial drone can do over a couple of hours.

Listen to Radiolab's Eye in the Sky episode. Think of the possibilities that have opened up because of drone tech in the 10 years since it first aired (and the 20 years since the tech was used in Iraq). It's truly frightening what these drones will be able to accomplish once they are in place.

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