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I think there's a hard public interest in tracking flights. They're so safe these days that we can kind of forget that we're talking about moving multi-ton vehi
by shadowgovt 3y ago
I think there's a hard public interest in tracking flights. They're so safe these days that we can kind of forget that we're talking about moving multi-ton vehicles over people's homes, churches, and schools, where anything going wrong can result in significant loss of life and property damage... At the very least, I want to know who and when as a societal tradeoff for the privilege of using the air over our heads freely.
(Also, that vested interest has been demonstrated in recent history. Keep in mind that it was ultimately plane-spotters who originally busted the extraordinary rendition policy of the US government open... They noticed planes had changed their regular flight patterns significantly).
- robocat 3y agoYour argument applies equally to cars. For a low price per car we could track all cars and also ensure they don't break a bunch of rules (say speed, acceleration, traffic lights) where drivers endanger others.
- shadowgovt 3y agoIt doesn't because cars stick to the road. The difference is a little hand wavy and path dependent on history, but pilots are required to file flight plans; nobody requires a drive plan. (Of course, every car has a license plate and if somebody were to establish an infrastructure for tracking all of those plates and correlating it to motion of vehicles... I'm actually not against that. I'm of the personal opinion that we are far too deferential to drivers and do not demand nearly enough responsibility from them, and the fatality rates on roads are demonstrative of this).