Drone Surveillance: How Feasible Are Countermeasures?
Drones are moving rapidly from being toys to becoming weapons of war. Drone surveillance is an increasing challenge at airports, where authorities sometimes appear helpless. Moreover, North and South Korea regularly fly drones through their demilitarised zone to snoop on each other’s invasion countermeasures. While in California, law enforcement constantly scans the Mexican border. [ Visit our website ]
Drone Surveillance the New Invasion of Our Privacy.
At home, drones have become more than nuisance value in Australia. Residents face the prospect of curious neighbours’ kids spying on them at their swimming pools. It cannot be long before paedophiles come to the party. Moreover, the opportunities for blackmail and abductions appear open ended. The question arises, how can we stop this?
Australian Businesses Under Threat from Drone Surveillance
Drones seem almost purpose-made to spy on what the competition is doing. They have high definition cameras to capture every detail, and transmit to their owner. Anything that happens in the open air is no longer secret. High walls and electric fences are no longer a deterrent to a competitor.
How Technology is Beginning to Find Ways to Counter Drones
Operators of entry-level drones communicate with them at specific radio frequencies. Those on pre-programmed flights use GPS to navigate. Both technologies are open to interference and blocking. The challenge is doing this in a ‘sociable’ way that does not interfere with other citizens’ rights. The problem we face is sophisticated drones switch to homing mode when they detect interference.
We came across an interesting snippet concerning a company called Drone Shield. Their counter drone surveillance technology detects drones by:
- Listening intensely for signals associated with unmanned aerial systems
- Comparing these with an integrated database of known drone signatures
- Delivering alerts to clients by SMS, email or other form of communication
Some prisons are already using their system to spot drones smuggling contraband so guards can respond.
How Much Use is This Technology for Individuals and Businesses
While this technology is undoubtedly proving useful to counter the terrorist threat, the cost puts it out of reach of Australian citizens. Moreover shooting down drones is not a good idea, because we might target an innocent one and injure someone when it crashed. Hence we are back to using traditional counter surveillance measures to identify the offender.
QLD Covert Investigations has successfully traced drone owners through persistent detective work, and provided reports by licensed private investigators. If the police deem an intrusion serious, they may take action when they have a lead. If not, a court may issue a restraining order, which should counter it.
