Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Outside group presses FAA against drone expansion

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Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird … it’s a plane … it’s an unmanned drone flying over the neighborhood? While this idea would have been deemed far-fetched in a pre-9/11 world, Congress recently passed a new budget for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that would in fact vastly expand and accelerate the use of drones inside the U.S.

Thankfully, Americans appear to be wearying of the ever-expanding “homeland security” state surrounding their persons, homes, businesses and communities — perhaps even to the point of finally saying, “Enough is enough.”

According to a recent survey by Rasmussen Reports, a Republican-friendly polling firm, 76% of Americans are supportive of using drones to kill terrorists. Importantly, however, more than half of voters surveyed — 52% — are opposed to their use by law enforcement agencies inside the United States.

Clearly, Americans have very real privacy concerns with the domestic use of drones. On the other hand, countless federal, state and local agencies — hand in hand with the private companies that manufacture such technology — are eagerly rushing to embrace their use and increase the federal “homeland security” dollars available to assist in that regard.

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