Want to Shoot Down Your Neighbor's Drone? Think twice.

Before you decide to shoot that drone out of your backyard, there are a few important things you need to know. 

First of all, damaging any flying robot is a federal crime. It doesn’t matter if it’s crashing your pool party or watching you in your skivvies through the skylight in your master bath.

“In my ​legal opinion,” says Peter Sachs, a Connecticut attorney and publisher of Drone Law Journal, “it is never okay to shoot at a drone, shoot down a drone​,​ or otherwise damage, destroy​ or disable ​a drone, ​or attempt to ​do so. ​Doing so is a federal crime.​”...

It sounds like a cyberpunk, apocalyptic scenario, but if you ever found yourself in a situation where a drone is not only trespassing on your property, but is intentionally trying to harm you, then you can probably shoot it down. But this is only if the drone is swooping and trying to ram itself into you, or was outfitted with some (illegal) ammo of its own and started opening fire.  more

Drones and Counter-Drones

As regular readers know, the Security Scrapbook follows drone development. Our Canadian Blue Blaze Irregular checks in:

Kevin, This is making a big splash in the news today out our way... Despite the relatively short flight time (it can be worked on) this would have been greatly appreciated by many of the people we’ve met. Usually they would have had great fun if it were available in their past life. Another ‘interesting’ toy. All kinds of possibilities. ~WM



And now, the drone antidote...

Florida Working on a Drone Law

FL - A law that would make it illegal to use a drone to spy on your family is moving through the Florida Legislature right now.

Under the proposed law, the government and police would be forbidden from using drones for surveillance, and so would everyday people like your neighbors.

The ban would only apply to private property and only to places where someone has "a reasonable expectation of privacy." more

Spying With a Drone May Become a Criminal Offense in CO

Colorado lawmakers want to criminalize the use of drones when they’re used to monitor someone without their consent.

The proposal up for a House committee vote Tuesday would make it a crime of first-degree trespassing to take images of someone when they have an expectation of privacy. Drone users could also be charged with harassment if they use the technology to monitor someone’s movements.

“As technology moves forward, our privacy is becoming more dear to us,” said the bill sponsor, Rep. Polly Lawrence, R-Littleton.

Lawrence’s bill is not just about drones, but “any type of electronic surveillance when a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.”
more 

Get your (novelty) drone hunting license here. I have one.

Science Magazine - The End of Privacy

The whole magazine is devoted to privacy.

At birth, your data trail began. You were given a name, your height and weight were recorded, and probably a few pictures were taken. A few years later, you were enrolled in day care, you received your first birthday party invitation, and you were recorded in a census. Today, you have a Social Security or national ID number, bank accounts and credit cards, and a smart phone that always knows where you are. Perhaps you post family pictures on Facebook; tweet about politics; and reveal your changing interests, worries, and desires in thousands of Google searches. Sometimes you share data intentionally, with friends, strangers, companies, and governments. But vast amounts of information about you are collected with only perfunctory consent—or none at all. Soon, your entire genome may be sequenced and shared by researchers around the world along with your medical records, flying cameras may hover over your neighborhood, and sophisticated software may recognize your face as you enter a store or an airport.
(more)

Kangaroo Knocks Out Drone

The kids are scared. What's a mother to do?

Australia - Two Anti-Voyeurism Measures

New Anti-Voyeurism Law
Attorney-General Simon Corbell said the wide-ranging crimes legislation would provide greater protection from invasions of privacy in response to advances in technology.

"The offences introduced by the bill, to protect the privacy of individuals, will ensure that the law can appropriately deal with people who indecently engage in behaviour sometimes referred to as up-skirting and down-blousing without the consent of the person being observed, filmed or photographed," he said. (more)

No Drone Voyeurism in Fire Zones
State aviation operations manager David Pearce said drones could be lethal to aircraft, regardless of size, much like a bird strike that "took down an airliner" if it hit the wrong spot. "Helicopters are particularly susceptible. If the drone is sucked into the intake of the jet engines, or goes into the tail rotor, then it's probably curtains for the helicopter.

Mr Pearce said firefighting aircraft would be immediately grounded if a UAV was spotted either near, or within, a fire zone. (more)

Happy Feet: Espionage can look adorable, too.

Just look at a remote-controlled robot disguised as a penguin that interacts with Emperor penguins in Antarctica.

Scientists are using the fake baby penguin on four wheels to get closer to the colony and collect health and population research...



The international team tested the rover, with the chick and without it, and reported in the journal Nature Methods Sunday that both versions caused less anxiety than humans... (more) (dance-a-long)

FutureWatch: A Cell Phone Pocket Drone

For the first time a pocket size drone design for consumer and able to travel with user 24/7 where ever, whenever. All your need is your smart phone. (more) 

Forget the Drones, Here Comes Spy Turtle

Ask the Consultant - Spycam Question Received this Week

"Have you ever been called upon by a client to check for unauthorized or hidden cameras?
And to that end, is there some technology available to security professionals (not what the Secret Service uses) that can identify wireless cameras?" 

Yes. The video voyeurism craze had prompted requests from corporate clients, country clubs, private schools and religious institutions (usually in response to an incident), and occasionally pro-actively, for due diligence purposes.

DIY detecting cameras in situ can be accomplished in several ways...

Spycam finds courtesy Murray Associates.

1. Physical inspection - If you know where a spycam is likely to be looking (bathroom, bedroom, office, etc.), stand there and do a 360º turn. The camera will be in your line-of-sight (take into account mirrors).
2. Look for the lens - This may be accomplished with this device, or with this app. Neither solution is 100% effective, however.
3. If the device is not recording internally, but broadcasting a FM radio-frequency signal, there are these detectors 1 2 . Neither solution is 100% effective, however.
4. If the camera is transmitting to the Internet via Wi-Fi (popular with the baby monitors), detection options 1 & 2 are the best bet for the amateur sleuth. A professional TSCM team will be able to conduct a Wi-Fi analysis to absolutely detect the transmitter.
5. Thermal imaging is also very effective for finding "live" cameras (as opposed to the battery powered ones that just snap photos upon sensing movement). This has become affordable this year with the introduction of this iPhone add-on.
6. Call us. In addition to Wi-Fi analysis, we also use Non-Linear Junction Detection (NLJD), more sensitive thermal imaging, and spectrum analysis detection techniques.

You may also want to read this.

by Kevin D. Murray CPP, CISM, CFE

See Around Corners with Pocket Drone

Researchers at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center are developing a pocket-sized aerial surveillance device for Soldiers and small units operating in challenging ground environments.

The Cargo Pocket Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance program, or CP-ISR, seeks to develop a mobile Soldier sensor to increase the situational awareness of dismounted Soldiers by providing real-time video surveillance of threat areas within their immediate operational environment.

While larger systems have been used to provide over-the-hill ISR capabilities on the battlefield for almost a decade, none of those delivers it directly to the squad level, where Soldiers need the ability to see around the corner or into the next room during combat missions. (more)

Could Drones be the New Force Multiplier for Physical Security?

The use of drones for physical security is limited only by the imagination and battery life, says J. Patrick Murphy, president of LPT Security Consulting.

He envisions drones being used for security purposes in mall parking lots and at oil refineries and other big plants, at hospitals and schools.

Murphy recently had the opportunity to see what camera-mounted drones can offer. He was on an assignment for a Houston-based clinic/pharmaceutical chain, conducting a security assessment of their buildings. As part of that, he needed to do a light(ing) study.

“We went to the parking lot in one location and did a walk-around in the daytime,” Murphy told Security Director News.

Then, he contacted local drone manufacturer and pilot Michael Sclafani of West Fork Drones for a nighttime flyover. “It just blew me away because of the functionality and maneuverability,” Murphy said of the flyover... With the drone, he was able to see which trees were blocking certain lights and the shadows that resulted. “That’s a story told that I probably would have missed otherwise,” he said. (more)

Australia - Stronger privacy laws needed to protect public from drones

A federal parliamentary committee is recommending stronger privacy laws to protect the public from invasive technologies like drones.

The Government-dominated committee's report is titled Eyes in the Sky, but its recommendations go beyond the use of remote piloted aircraft, more commonly known as drones.

The House of Representatives' standing committee on social policy and legal affairs calls on the Abbott Government to look at creating a tort of privacy.

But Attorney-General George Brandis has previously rejected such a move as an intrusion on personal freedoms. (more)

The fight drones on. Personal Privacy v. Personal Freedoms.

PI High Flyers are not Keeping a Low Profile - What could possibly go wrong?

(Private) Investigators are taking drones to new heights — using the remote-controlled aircraft to catch New Yorkers cheating on spouses, lying about disabilities and endangering their kids.

“People want you to believe there’s all this negativity associated with drones . . . but they could be a very helpful tool,” said Olwyn Triggs, a gumshoe for 23 years and president of Professional Investigators Network Inc. in Glen Cove, LI.

Triggs recently used a drone to find an upstate man suspected of insurance fraud. Signs on his rural property warned that trespassers would be shot, so she sent in her 2-pound, foot-long Phantom 2 Vision quadcopter, which costs about $1,000...

"And if they're not disabled..."

Matthew Seifer recently pretended to test-fly a drone in Central Park. He was actually recording a husband fooling around with a female coworker from 100 feet away.

“Sometimes the best thing is to be right there in plain sight,” said Seifer, president of Long Island-based Executive Investigations...

“We raised the drone above the restaurant, [and] he was engaged in a sexual act in the front seat of his car,” the investigator said. “[Drones] get us those types of money shots.” (more)

...an FAA crackdown, loss of PI license, lawsuit defense expenses, etc.

The Next Thing in TSCM - Drone Detection

Worried about spying? Maybe you need a personal drone detection system.

Privacy in the drone-filled age is going to be more difficult to protect than ever. Competitors, thieves, or even just your neighbors could be spying on your every move using a remote-controlled flying camera.

That’s the kind of paranoia Domestic Drone Countermeasures (DDC) is hoping to tap into with its new personal drone detection system (PDDS) Kickstarter project – a black box that promises to go beep when a drone flies within 15m of its sensors. (more)

A Drone Was Caught 'Spying' on Team France at the World Cup

French national team coach Didier Deschamps is reportedly calling for an investigation into a quadcoptor drone that was spotted spying over his team’s closed training session on Tuesday...

The culprit? A hobbyist and fan, flying his unlicensed drone in Brazilian airspace, according to BFMTV. 

Local police are investigating and are promising a quick resolution. (more)

Netflix New Drone Delivery Service

Another nail in the Post Office's Coffin...
 
Sorry, this just couldn't wait until April 1st.

Ol' McDonnell Had a Drone

IL - In January a UPS truck pulled up to the farm of Bill McDonnell north of Ottawa.

McDonnell’s order had come through. It was a brand new Phantom 2 drone, a four-rotor, remote-controlled quad-copter with a camera.

“It’s something I’ve been researching for the past year to see how we can integrate this into our farming operation,” McDonnell said.

Like many cutting-edge technologies in the United States, drones have crossed over from military to domestic use. Military drones appear like airplanes and are used to explore and survey landscapes or deliver missiles and bombs. Domestic drones look more like hobby helicopters and carry small cameras...

This coming season McDonnell plans to survey his corn and soybeans with his Phantom. (more)

The K5 Security Robot - aka Robopanopticop, or R-2 D-brief

Knightscope officials envision its K5 system playing a role in community policing...

“Knightscope’s autonomous technology platform is a fusion of robotics, predictive analytics and collaborative social engagement utilized to predict and prevent crime,” the company states on its website. That means that in addition to sophisticated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, the K5 is equipped with analytics enabling it to detect threats to people or property and summon police.

• Able to scan an area in 270-degree sweeps to photographically map it. 
• Four mid-mounted cameras can scan up to 1,500 license plates per minute
• 5-foot high, 300-lb.
• Equipped with optical character recognition, omnidirectional imaging, thermal imaging, microphones, air quality sensors, ultrasonic and infrared sensors, radar for determining the range, altitude, direction or speed of objects and lidar technology for measuring distance to an object. (more)