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In my region, a fine for "stealing electricity" has a fine starting at like $30,000. This is normally aimed at grow ops, which tap into the service lines before

In my region, a fine for "stealing electricity" has a fine starting at like $30,000. This is normally aimed at grow ops, which tap into the service lines before the meter (usually by an interior cut below grade so it goes unnoticed), however when the government is already abusing its power, I don't think it's a wise idea to actually get into a position where you could be facing a massive fine. So I certainly wouldn't suggest going anywhere near power lines. I'd suggest solar-cells. If you get the right efficiency-weight ratio, they might actually add to the flight duration of the craft, and when the battery starts dying simply have the UAV target a south-facing roof and ditch. As the UAV would likely already have motion-sensors, simply program it so that any abnormal shakes in this 'sleep mode' and it takes off so no one goes up on a ladder and tries to grab it. Also using this latter method, they could collect data on how long it takes before they get disturbed to find friendly zones for if they are disturbed in sleep mode.

angersock 15y ago
Considering the outlandish fines being levied for something on the order of ten unlicensed copies of a song, being caught with a drone carrying hundreds or thousands would seem to overshadow electricity stealing fines. I like the solar-cell idea though.
- electromagnetic 15y ago
  I thought the whole point of the drones wouldn't be to carry pirated data, but simply act as a means of unregulated information communication. It would be too complicated and convoluted to ensure data went where you wanted it if you're only uploading gigs to a certain drone in a swarm. It would also ensure you're traceable for any piracy you do commit (IP #.#.#.# at _____ this location is sending Lada Gaga Album leak to IP #.#.#.# at ____ location). In my mind, the swarm should be using a mesh network. Without ISP's assigning your IP based on ones they own, you can literally join the local network with any random IP address and the mesh net handles getting your data between the drones and to your destination. What's better, is if these drones are connecting to open wifi nodes the mesh net doesn't have to be contiguous. A mesh net can be formed by a few open wifi nodes bridging the gap between major cities.

angersock 15y ago

Considering the outlandish fines being levied for something on the order of ten unlicensed copies of a song, being caught with a drone carrying hundreds or thousands would seem to overshadow electricity stealing fines. I like the solar-cell idea though.

electromagnetic 15y ago
I thought the whole point of the drones wouldn't be to carry pirated data, but simply act as a means of unregulated information communication. It would be too complicated and convoluted to ensure data went where you wanted it if you're only uploading gigs to a certain drone in a swarm. It would also ensure you're traceable for any piracy you do commit (IP #.#.#.# at _____ this location is sending Lada Gaga Album leak to IP #.#.#.# at ____ location). In my mind, the swarm should be using a mesh network. Without ISP's assigning your IP based on ones they own, you can literally join the local network with any random IP address and the mesh net handles getting your data between the drones and to your destination. What's better, is if these drones are connecting to open wifi nodes the mesh net doesn't have to be contiguous. A mesh net can be formed by a few open wifi nodes bridging the gap between major cities.