Los Angeles, Get Ready for Spies in the Sky

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Unmanned, remote-controlled drones have become a feature of surveillance for American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now the LA Sheriff's Department is experimenting with that technology, a four and a half-pound, unmanned, remote-controlled drone about the size of a model aircraft. While many neighborhoods are familiar with roaring helicopters circling over homes and businesses--a deafening disruption of daily life, these new drones will be many times cheaper--and so quiet you won't know they're there. What will they be used for? Will urban privacy become a thing of the past? We talk with the head of the Technology Exploration Project at the LA Sheriff's Department, civil rights and privacy advocates, and an expert in Constitutional law.
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Grand Avenue Project

Credits

Host:

Warren Olney

Producer:

Frances Anderton