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So glad someone else saw this, I'm not finding anything on it and I'm starting to question my own memory, as I'm quite sure I saw the original article about the

by lbayes 4y ago

So glad someone else saw this, I'm not finding anything on it and I'm starting to question my own memory, as I'm quite sure I saw the original article about the Mexico program on this site. FWIW, I also recall the tech being originally used to find people who planted IEDs in Afghanistan. I'm kind of shocked about how all the articles I am finding seem to emphasize real-time police chases. Now I'm feeling super suspicious.

netsharc 4y ago
Well, a bit more googling ( https://www.google.com/search?q=police+drone+afghanistan+rewind https://www.google.com/search?q=police+drone+afghanistan+rew... ) got me just 2 relevant hits. https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/04/sheriffs-deputy-compares-drone-surveillance-of-compton-to-big-brother/360954/ https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/04/sheriff... https://scholarship.law.uc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1249&context=uclr https://scholarship.law.uc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1... (search for "rewind") I'd rather think it's because Google sucks now, and those keywords just bring up too many similar articles, but my metaphorical tinfoil hat is my hands.
- lbayes 4y ago
  Nice job! Your tips got me to this one, where it more clearly spells out the "rewind" capability. I think the problem was that the tech was attached to a low-flying, piloted plane, not drones. https://www.csoonline.com/article/2226742/record-and-rewind--cops-quietly-test-aerial-surveillance-to-track-crime.html https://www.csoonline.com/article/2226742/record-and-rewind-... Whew! It feels better to set my tinfoil hat down on the table next to me...
  - filoeleven 4y ago
    There was a website shown on HN a few years ago that used AI and plane transponder data to find circling planes which were presumably doing this kind of surveillance over American cities. It might have used further parameters to narrow it down, e.g. “over a city, circling for >3 hours” to rule out planes waiting to land. I thought it was named something simple like “plane-circles.com” but I’m not having any luck finding it again. See also https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARGUS-IS https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARGUS-IS Edit: found it. Should have limited the search to HN from the start. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24188661 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24188661
dorkwood 4y ago
I first heard about this on Radiolab. Maybe you heard it there too? >> In 2004, when casualties in Iraq were rising due to roadside bombs, Ross McNutt and his team came up with an idea. With a small plane and a 44 mega-pixel camera, they figured out how to watch an entire city all at once, all day long. Whenever a bomb detonated, they could zoom onto that spot and then, because this eye in the sky had been there all along, they could scroll back in time and see - literally see - who planted it. https://radiolab.org/episodes/eye-sky https://radiolab.org/episodes/eye-sky
- lbayes 4y ago
  I think you found it. Now I recall that episode exactly. Apparently, my mind created some very visual memories from the narrative. Thanks!
_tom_ 4y ago
There have been a few products that record everything you see on the web, so you don't have this problem. Obviously analogous to recording everything you hear. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/all-about-seruku-search-web-tool/598/ https://www.searchenginejournal.com/all-about-seruku-search-...

by lbayes 4y ago

netsharc 4y ago

Well, a bit more googling ( https://www.google.com/search?q=police+drone+afghanistan+rewind https://www.google.com/search?q=police+drone+afghanistan+rew... ) got me just 2 relevant hits. https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/04/sheriffs-deputy-compares-drone-surveillance-of-compton-to-big-brother/360954/ https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/04/sheriff... https://scholarship.law.uc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1249&context=uclr https://scholarship.law.uc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1... (search for "rewind") I'd rather think it's because Google sucks now, and those keywords just bring up too many similar articles, but my metaphorical tinfoil hat is my hands.

lbayes 4y ago
Nice job! Your tips got me to this one, where it more clearly spells out the "rewind" capability. I think the problem was that the tech was attached to a low-flying, piloted plane, not drones. https://www.csoonline.com/article/2226742/record-and-rewind--cops-quietly-test-aerial-surveillance-to-track-crime.html https://www.csoonline.com/article/2226742/record-and-rewind-... Whew! It feels better to set my tinfoil hat down on the table next to me...
- filoeleven 4y ago
  There was a website shown on HN a few years ago that used AI and plane transponder data to find circling planes which were presumably doing this kind of surveillance over American cities. It might have used further parameters to narrow it down, e.g. “over a city, circling for >3 hours” to rule out planes waiting to land. I thought it was named something simple like “plane-circles.com” but I’m not having any luck finding it again. See also https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARGUS-IS https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARGUS-IS Edit: found it. Should have limited the search to HN from the start. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24188661 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24188661

dorkwood 4y ago

I first heard about this on Radiolab. Maybe you heard it there too? >> In 2004, when casualties in Iraq were rising due to roadside bombs, Ross McNutt and his team came up with an idea. With a small plane and a 44 mega-pixel camera, they figured out how to watch an entire city all at once, all day long. Whenever a bomb detonated, they could zoom onto that spot and then, because this eye in the sky had been there all along, they could scroll back in time and see - literally see - who planted it. https://radiolab.org/episodes/eye-sky https://radiolab.org/episodes/eye-sky

lbayes 4y ago
I think you found it. Now I recall that episode exactly. Apparently, my mind created some very visual memories from the narrative. Thanks!

_tom_ 4y ago

There have been a few products that record everything you see on the web, so you don't have this problem. Obviously analogous to recording everything you hear. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/all-about-seruku-search-web-tool/598/ https://www.searchenginejournal.com/all-about-seruku-search-...