"Drone research looks at traffic applications"

Via Drudge comes this neato article in the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Pilotless planes, which the U.S. military has used to snoop out Iraqi tanks and assassinate an al-Qaida terrorist, will be tested in Ohio to see whether they can battle a more down-to-earth hazard: traffic jams.

Ohio transportation officials and university researchers believe that unmanned aerial vehicles, sometimes called drones or UAVs, hold promise as a way to keep an eye on traffic, route trucks and fix stoplights so traffic flows better...

"It's just mind-boggling what the possibilities are," said Sam Bonasso, who runs the Department of Transportation's Research and Special Programs Administration. It is overseeing the Ohio drone research.

Indeed. Heh.

Huh? Why didn't the Enquirer's reporter bother to insert a few contrary opinions in what reads like little more than a neato press release? Like, do we really want a bunch of UAVs flying overhead watching traffic patterns, people and cars moving in and out of various stores and locations, recording license plates (for our safety), recording where we go and what we do (for our safety)?

On the border, the drones are a good idea. Not so in the interior of the U.S.

Unfortunately, what will probably happen is that the drone's use in the interior will be approved with barely a whisper of discontent, while their use on the borders will be blocked after having been assailed by the usual suspects.

Privacy · Mon, 05/26/2003 - 21:56 · · Importance: 1