“The secrets of our private lives have become a thing of the past,” says an executive at the leading drone-making company. Wired writes:
Russia’s infatuation with drone technology to monitor and spy popular protests is the Kremlin’s latest attempt to clamp down on civil unrest, both on the streets and online.
Russia is going to allegedly spend around $13 billion on unmanned aerial vehicles through 2020… Small drones are perfect to monitor dissatisfied Russians marching down the streets. “They will be used mainly to maintain public order during local demonstrations and marches, when we shall be keeping watch from the air to avoid any incidents,” said Sergei Kanunnikov, the head of the air operation center in the Department of the Interior of the eastern state of Amur.
Drones will also be deployed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, a Russian city on the Black Sea. And Sochi won’t be the first Olympic city to secure its skies with robots; London will do the same starting this weekend.
With a new fleet of drones, flying robots will be the new Russian spies and in case you’re wondering if the Russians are particularly concerned about privacy, think again. According to [leading drone manufacturer Maksim] Shinkevich, “the secrets of our private lives have become a thing of the past.” And that’s another thing which the two old superpowers can agree on.
