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Wow, this is an elected official? > Transport minister Robert Goodwill admitted authorities had not yet confirmed whether what struck the Airbus A320 > Mr Goo

by gregmac 11y ago

Wow, this is an elected official? > Transport minister Robert Goodwill admitted authorities had not yet confirmed whether what struck the Airbus A320 > Mr Goodwill also dismissed calls for tighter rules on drone use to protect against terror threats insisting current rules governing drone use were strong enough. He said it would be much easier for terrorists to attack airports on the ground with rucksacks or car bombs than orchestrate the attack from a drone aircraft. > He warned that any moves to enforce geo-fencing rules would be vulnerable to being hacked by "somebody who could get round that software". > "And indeed the early reports of a dent in the front of the plane were not confirmed - there was no actual damage to the plane" > "the pilot has a lot of other things to concentrate [while landing] on so we're not quite sure what they saw so I think we should maybe not overreact too much." This is a sane, rational response.. I am just not used to hearing it come from government officials. This should be a model for the type of responses that government officials have to these types of situations.

d33 11y ago
Nonetheless, the amount of hype in the original news clearly show the state of paranoia the contemporary society is in.
- LeifCarrotson 11y ago
  No, that shows the state of paranoia that the original news wants to convey to sell more media.
  - dmix 11y ago
    The media is part of contemporary society. As are the police who originally tweeted the drone hitting plane angle, the media for reporting on it, and the consumers who love a good fear-ridden headline. The culture of fear is a widespread human fallibility, not an evil corporate invention. The fact rationality, and how to perceive the world without tripping over our human biases/fallacies, is not taught with any priority in society is the real issue. That is the root cause of the anti-intellectualism that's so widespread IMO. No-one in the chain approached the topic with any level of skepticism. Just retweeting and reblogging a story without any solid evidence, giving it more and more credibility.
TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago
They've also tried a 747 simulator. This is quite impressive.
ultramancool 11y ago
> He warned that any moves to enforce geo-fencing rules would be vulnerable to being hacked by "somebody who could get round that software". Indeed very impressive that an elected official understands this. Someone with a little reverse engineering talent can patch something like that without much work for near-free (think bypassing those FCC regulations turning up TX power in your router firmware). Someone with a little regular engineering talent can spoof or jam GPS for relatively cheap.
- Malstrond 11y ago
  Not to mention there is free flight controller software with autonomous capabilites, e.g. APM.
- johansch 11y ago
  Realistically speaking, what it means is that this particular minister somehow managed to employ a "technical expert" who actually is just that. Oh, and that this technical expert is both a) competent, and b) has managed to gain the trust of the minister. The combination is probably easier said than done, so props to whoever that person is :).
  - eru 11y ago
    I don't really care whether my `competent politician' is actually a single human, or a bunch of people working together. (Just like people usually attribute speeches to a mythical, composite `Obama' person, even though the roles of performer and speechwriter are done by different people.)
    - arrrg 11y ago
      Effectively delegating tasks is a skill and I know it’s a skill because I suck at it.
- fabulist 11y ago
  I think the geofencing has the same value as a door lock; it keeps the honest people honest.
ekianjo 11y ago
This is the kind of guy you need for president.
- takno 11y ago
  He's interested in transport, so he's the kind of guy who is useful as a transport minister. Otherwise he mostly just votes with the whips and doesn't seem to have much focus on anything. I'm not sure that's really who you want for president
maxcan 11y ago
Propaganda aside, geofencing isn't about stopping a sophisticated group from launching an attack. Its about making sure all my friends around here keep their DJI Phantoms away from SFO arrivals and departures..
madaxe_again 11y ago
Yeah, the hysterical response has come from the public this time. I fly drones, perfectly legally, and this week have had people variously tell me that I'm either a terrorist or I'm "helping the terrorists" or I'm am idiot or "Isn't that dangerous for my children" - even stood in a field, people wander >100m over from the canal towpath to complain at me. Popular opinion in the pub is that they're dangerous and should be banned, didn't you hear 5000 people almost died on Monday when ten drones crashed into twelve aircraft, all almost certainly carrying nuclear weapons that failed to go off because gchq saved us? a few years ago the response was positive and interested, almost universally - even though I was at that point flying in town due to lack of regulation. Media has trained them to be scared of drones, like everything else.
- lawlessone 11y ago
  are they even drones? RC quadcopters. Thats what people are afraid of RC copters.

by gregmac 11y ago

d33 11y ago

Nonetheless, the amount of hype in the original news clearly show the state of paranoia the contemporary society is in.

LeifCarrotson 11y ago
No, that shows the state of paranoia that the original news wants to convey to sell more media.
- dmix 11y ago
  The media is part of contemporary society. As are the police who originally tweeted the drone hitting plane angle, the media for reporting on it, and the consumers who love a good fear-ridden headline. The culture of fear is a widespread human fallibility, not an evil corporate invention. The fact rationality, and how to perceive the world without tripping over our human biases/fallacies, is not taught with any priority in society is the real issue. That is the root cause of the anti-intellectualism that's so widespread IMO. No-one in the chain approached the topic with any level of skepticism. Just retweeting and reblogging a story without any solid evidence, giving it more and more credibility.

TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago

They've also tried a 747 simulator. This is quite impressive.

ultramancool 11y ago

> He warned that any moves to enforce geo-fencing rules would be vulnerable to being hacked by "somebody who could get round that software". Indeed very impressive that an elected official understands this. Someone with a little reverse engineering talent can patch something like that without much work for near-free (think bypassing those FCC regulations turning up TX power in your router firmware). Someone with a little regular engineering talent can spoof or jam GPS for relatively cheap.

Malstrond 11y ago
Not to mention there is free flight controller software with autonomous capabilites, e.g. APM.
johansch 11y ago
Realistically speaking, what it means is that this particular minister somehow managed to employ a "technical expert" who actually is just that. Oh, and that this technical expert is both a) competent, and b) has managed to gain the trust of the minister. The combination is probably easier said than done, so props to whoever that person is :).
- eru 11y ago
  I don't really care whether my `competent politician' is actually a single human, or a bunch of people working together. (Just like people usually attribute speeches to a mythical, composite `Obama' person, even though the roles of performer and speechwriter are done by different people.)
  - arrrg 11y ago
    Effectively delegating tasks is a skill and I know it’s a skill because I suck at it.
fabulist 11y ago
I think the geofencing has the same value as a door lock; it keeps the honest people honest.

ekianjo 11y ago

This is the kind of guy you need for president.

takno 11y ago
He's interested in transport, so he's the kind of guy who is useful as a transport minister. Otherwise he mostly just votes with the whips and doesn't seem to have much focus on anything. I'm not sure that's really who you want for president

maxcan 11y ago

Propaganda aside, geofencing isn't about stopping a sophisticated group from launching an attack. Its about making sure all my friends around here keep their DJI Phantoms away from SFO arrivals and departures..

madaxe_again 11y ago

Yeah, the hysterical response has come from the public this time. I fly drones, perfectly legally, and this week have had people variously tell me that I'm either a terrorist or I'm "helping the terrorists" or I'm am idiot or "Isn't that dangerous for my children" - even stood in a field, people wander >100m over from the canal towpath to complain at me. Popular opinion in the pub is that they're dangerous and should be banned, didn't you hear 5000 people almost died on Monday when ten drones crashed into twelve aircraft, all almost certainly carrying nuclear weapons that failed to go off because gchq saved us? a few years ago the response was positive and interested, almost universally - even though I was at that point flying in town due to lack of regulation. Media has trained them to be scared of drones, like everything else.

lawlessone 11y ago
are they even drones? RC quadcopters. Thats what people are afraid of RC copters.