Friday, February 15, 2013

Lining Up Some Guinea Pigs

Trey Smith


Everyday I scan the headlines on a variety of news sites. Here's one that caught my eye yesterday: FAA Seeks Proposals to Create Six US Drone Test Sites. These test sites will be to assess "how best to safely integrate the unmanned aircarft into the national airspace."

If you didn't catch the drift, let me spell it out for you. We're not talking about testing drones for use in foreign theaters; we're talking about the widespread use of drones domestically. If the federal government is set to spend a lot of taxpayer dollars on these projects, then you must know that drones will soon become an everyday part of life. Wherever you or I go, there will be a drone overhead to track our every movement.

In the short-term, the people I feel most sorry for are the residents in the areas of the chosen six test sites. You folks will be the front line Guinea Pigs in this national experiment. You will be the first ones to have your privacy invaded. You will be the first ones to have Big Brother watching you over the shoulder. And you will be the first ones to suffer when the contractors go over the proverbial line.

But be rest assured that the violation of your basic civil rights will serve as a blueprint for the violation of everyone's basic civil rights. So, I guess we could say that you will be trailblazers into the rush toward the new frontier -- the frontier in which basic civil rights no longer exist!

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