Traffic,,,old news....
Pot, also old news, even the thermal stuff to look for grow rooms,..
So,.. this mega bling investment is strictly on the up and up? Watching us shower, reload, have a "movement", this just takes it to another level,....
the .gov is talking about regulating sugar like alcohol.....and this is just another further encroachment....one piece at a time....
So it's not to brazen.....
Ummm,except IR video without a warrant has been ruled inadmissible by SCOTUS
Then there is the fact that the FAA rulings has only a small portion of it that involves actual gov UAV use. How about food production, using UAVs to watch for insect infestations an such. They are also being used to look for seismic events/damage. A lot of the requests to the FAA involving drones are from universities and corps for research.
The costs of a drone versus a manned aircraft are enormous. A drone can be flown for say $200/he while a manned aircraft to do the same thing is in excess of $1+k/hr not factorring in training costs for the crew. Most of what has been used so far are basically off the shelf RC planes that have a small camera. There are larger ones looking at pollution in the air or water. It is a great deal more persistant to observe with a drone than send people to do the sampling.