Drones

Are Unmanned Drones Coming To A Police Dept. Near You?

Eric Lach | January 24, 2011, 10:59AM

A Draganflyer X4 drone.

The Miami-Dade police department should soon be up and flying, while the Mayor of Ogden, Utah has floated a blimp idea. Still, unmanned drone use among U.S. law enforcement remains rare. That may soon change.

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Drones

Utah Mayor Hopes To Use Unmanned Blimp To Fight Crime

Eric Lach | January 19, 2011, 12:23PM

Matthew Godfrey, the mayor of Ogden, Utah, has a lofty goal. Godfrey has proposed that the town employ an unmanned blimp for surveillance and crime prevention.

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Hacking

OECD Says The U.S. Doesn't Get Cyberwarfare, Stuxnet Suggests Otherwise

Neal Ungerleider | January 19, 2011, 10:33AM

Have governments got cyberwarfare all wrong? A new study argues that the United States and United Kingdom have never figured out a proper definition of cyberwar and that a "true cyber war" will never happen.

But it's not all good news: In order to prevent a combination of cyberwarfare, conventional war and other disasters from causing future, the scholars behind the project argue that an internet equivalent of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is needed to protect against worms, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks and hackers.

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Jared Lee Loughner

Loughner Asked Online Gamers If They Had 'Aggression 24/7'

Ryan J. Reilly | January 12, 2011, 11:05AM

For a 22-year-old high school dropout, some of Jared Lee Loughner's concerns were typical. He had trouble landing a minimum wage job. Girls didn't get him. He fixated on weight lifting.

But other postings allegedly made by Loughner on a private forum associated with the online game Earth Empires under the names Heroin, XTC and Erad were much more disturbing.

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Air Force

Air Force's New Gorgon Stare Drones Will 'See Everything'

Eric Lach | January 4, 2011, 8:27AM

In a matter of months, the Air Force hopes to start using a new airborne surveillance system called Gorgon Stare, which officials say will give soldiers the ability to monitor activity in real time across an entire city.

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Drones

Border Patrol: This Is The First Mexican Drone Crash We've Had

Rachel Slajda | December 17, 2010, 2:51PM

A spokesman for U.S. Customs & Border Patrol, the agency which found a small Mexican drone after it crashed in an El Paso neighborhood, told CNN today that it's the first time a Mexican drone has crashed on U.S. soil.

Officials confirm the drone, which crashed in residential yard Tuesday, was an unmanned, radio-controlled craft called an Orbiter Mini UAV owned by the Mexican government. Border Patrol was the first to respond to the crash, and has since turned the investigation over the the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates plane crashes.

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Mexico

Unmanned Mexican Drone Crashes Near El Paso, Texas

Eric Lach | December 16, 2010, 5:08PM

A remote-control drone operated by the Mexican government crashed in the United States near El Paso, Texas, this week, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency confirms to TPM.

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FEC

FEC Rejects Bid For Text Message Campaign Donations

Ryan J. Reilly | December 13, 2010, 10:02AM

The Federal Election Commission has rejected a leading wireless trade association's request for permission to enable political campaigns to solicit donations via text message, ABC News reports.

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Defense Department

The Army Wants To Put Smartphones On The Battlefield

Rachel Slajda | December 9, 2010, 8:51AM

A promo photo from the Army's app contest

Smartphones may soon be as ubiquitous in Army units stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan as they are on the streets of New York, as the Army works on a program to bring smartphones to soldiers on the ground.

The Army believes that smartphones -- and certain apps developed by and for the Army -- could be a great boon to soldiers on the ground. And the service sees it as inevitable.

"Taking smart-phone technology and bringing them to the battlefield is probably -- I shouldn't say this -- but it is something that we need to do," said Tony Fuiza, a researcher on the program, on a recent call with military bloggers.

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