Drones Archive

  • Those drones you use in Modern Warfare 2? They could be illegal in real life.

    Those drones you use in Modern Warfare 2? They could be illegal in real life.

    Posted on March 24, 2010 | No Comments
    You know all those drones you kids use to rain grim death upon your unfortunate friends in Modern Warfare 2? Well, according to an American University law professor's Congressional testimony, they may be illegal under international law. Of course, they could be totally fine, too, it's just that nobody really knows for sure. That's probably not what the U.S. military wants to hear, given how much it has spent, and will spend, on drones.

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  • Things That Can Kill You In the Ocean, Part XII: Sea Drones

    Things That Can Kill You In the Ocean, Part XII: Sea Drones

    Posted on February 10, 2010 | No Comments
    So you’re in a submarine, safe beneath the ocean waves. You’re pretty safe, right? Wrong. Apparently DARPA is working on Sea Drones that will follow ships and subs as they make their way across the briny deep, reporting positions and potentially going boom-boom if they feel like it. It’s all concept right now, but it’s [...]

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  • Why the Predator drone encryption doesn’t matter

    Why the Predator drone encryption doesn’t matter

    Posted on December 25, 2009 | No Comments
    Bruce Schneier wrote a great piece on the unencrypted Predator drone video feeds, noting that the drones were built for a post-Soviet, pre-insurgent era and that encryption, in the case of a live feed, is more of a problem than a threat. The problem is, the world has changed. Today’s insurgent adversaries don’t have KGB-level intelligence [...]

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  • Are U.S. Drones Really Being Watched With a Simple “Satellite Internet Downloader?”

    Are U.S. Drones Really Being Watched With a Simple “Satellite Internet Downloader?”

    Posted on December 17, 2009 | No Comments
    Either the WSJ hasn’t taken their anti-crazy pills or there is something severely wrong with the military industrial complex. I’m betting on both. The story says, essentially, that insurgents in Iraq are “taking control” of our pilotless drones with a $25 piece of software called SkyGrabber. By “take control” the WSJ means “download video feeds from” [...]

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