Forest Service buys eyes in the sky for surveillance

The trouble is, they'll chase people smoking dope instead of busting illegal loggers. From Environment News Service: The U.S. Forest Service has bought pilot-less aircraft to provide day and night photo reconnaissance for its law enforcement program, according to agency records released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, PEER. The two "unmanned aerial vehicles," or drones, may lead to wider conversion of military robotic technology for civilian uses.

The two SkySeers were obtained by the Forest Service on December 10, 2007 at a cost of $100,000 from Chang Industries, Inc. of La Verne, California, the developer of these vehicles.

The package includes one "day version" and one "night version" of the drone, together with a "Pan/tilt thermal camera" to record heat signatures at night. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has been testing a SkySeer for rescue operations and police work since 2006 to help with foot pursuit of suspects, as well as for watching "people of interest."

"The use of spy technology in the domestic United States should not be undertaken lightly," said PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. "Before the Forest Service deploys eyes in the sky, the agency should write some basic rules to prevent abuse."

A totally different model of unmanned aerial vehicle over Iraq, from the US Marines, via Wikimedia Commons