[themenace]

This has parallels with the secret groundbreaking military technology that "60 Minutes"[1] was talking about in 2008. When you have unlimited capacity to store data and the processing power to tag objects (or people!) in real-time when you play it back, all kinds of new possibilities arise for software or surveillance (good and evil).

My assumption is that the revolutionary advance was military aerial camera systems (such as Angel Fire) that continuously record movement over an entire city in high resolution. When something happens, you can play it backwards to see who drove or walked where, who met whom, find all the connections between people, and trace events to the beginning.

[1] http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/04/60minutes/main4415...

[euroclydon]

Thanks for sharing that. Interesting what constitutes a military breakthrough these days. A real nation-state with a military-industrial complex would just shoot that thing down.

[KirinDave]

It's might become harder than you think.

Especially modern stuff. I've been talking with a lot of hobbyist drone owners lately and several folks are working on fascinating projects using a fleet of semi-autonomous lightweight fixed wing and quad drones along with modern autonomous aircraft techniques.

These things are small (you could hold them one handed on a crowded bus), fast (even the quads break 140mph), can be quiet (especially the fixed wings) and have cellphones.

One of the projects I saw was proving that an automated drone network could create a full coverage, high resolution video coverage of a parking lot even with drones having to leave the site to get fresh batteries.

They're working for a team that has a DARPA grant, so...

[zaroth]

I'm surprised we don't see a lot more of this, but I assume it 10 years it will be extremely pervasive.

Drones which can zoom into an area at 100 mph plus and establish a complete surveillance perimeter. They could dock on telephone poles throughout a city. I imagine "calling 911" could dispatch these monitors to your location in under 60 seconds on average.

Drones were a lot more prominent in the recent hurricane response, I think it's the tip of the iceberg.

[euroclydon]

Interesting, but I’m sure there are significant efforts in anti-drone technology.

[icegreentea2]

Breakthroughs are situational. Many first tier militaries spend time thinking about urban pacification. Within those contexts, it really is a breakthrough.

Just like how stealth aircraft were a breakthrough, and also totally useless in this situation.

[euroclydon]

Agree, but comparing it to the tank, in WW1 or WW2, where industrialized nations were fighting each other directly is flawed.

[QAPereo]

Remember Churchill?

https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/Turing-s-Letter-to...

[louky]

It's being used domestically in the US, more than a little concerning to me.