Bug off, MAV!

Well we warned you. Drones are no longer just used in Afghanistan to search out al Qaeda terrorists, they are now actually patrolling neighborhoods to rout out whatever is deemed as bad behavior today or tomorrow. And they're not just tasked and operated by the military, local police forces are using them. And they are not just just floating past and looking at you, their cameras are now recording whatever you are doing in your own backward, or whatever they can see through your bedroom window!

MQ-9 Reaper drone

And what is worse, they can and are being equipped with sensors and even weapons! HERFs, High Energy Radio Frequency weapons. And they can even smell drugs on you! Predator drones can circle two miles up and watch you! Reassuring, huh?

But of course, the usual spin line invoked by police when asked to discuss these drones is; they are here to keep you safe. We all know about that one. 

But look, the drones are getting smaller, and they don't need to fly past overhead any more. They can simply hover outside your window and look in.

Mikrokopter drone

But you have the shades drawn, you say? Haven't you heard of thermal imaging? They can see a nicely delineated image of you and your wife doing ....THAT! Are you sure that is legal? Even among consenting adults? Better reread those obscure laws, they are left on the books for a reason you know. A nice video and audio recording is evidence that you broke the Washington DC law that anything beyond missionary sex is illegal, as is oral sex in Indiana, and lookout if you have a live fish in there with you in Minnesota!  Nice to know you are being protected. And don't think you'll see that little critter peering in, those cameras are perfectly clear operating at very high altitudes. The technology to read golf ball writing from space has been available since the 1970s so a hovering lil drone looking into your home doesn't have to be within your view to see. And here's the best part, even you can own one for only about $7000! With a GoPro Hero professional videography camera. And that includes a free flying lesson! Wow, check out that hot new housewife two doors up the street!

But that's not all ..... this is what's coming. MAVs!

real mosquito

Yes, small is good. Smaller even better. Teeny the best. Look what's packed into your smartphone. And now look whats packed into a mechanical insect!

They now have teeny weeny flying robots, called Micro Aerial Vehicles that are no bigger than a mosquito. These lil flyers don't carry the West Nile Virus or malaria, they are much more deadly than that. 
If you are up on things like this,  you may know that DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency had a pretend Hummingbird mechanical flying device, but those are way too big now. Outdated. Old tech.

pretend mosquito

These new tech lil' MAV buggers can fly in your open window at night, they are remotely controlled and are equipped with a camera and microphone. Or they can attach themselves onto your clothing and come into your home with you or land on your arm and aid in tracking you by leaving RFID nanotechnology on your skin! Or even take a sample of your blood, just like a real mosquito, except these robotic ones don't get high on the blood, like a micro-mini vampire, they just send the DNA data along to whomever.You'd think they'd make them look like cute little red ladybugs so you wouldn't want to swat them.

Mind you, they are designed for 'search and rescue' operations, and MAVs would be used for military reconnaissance operations in urban areas, where densely packed buildings are a problem. Sure. Or like inside your house rooms or office complex. All this funded by the US Government and the US Air Force! Of course the police and military are not supposed to ally in the use of drones to observe civilians, but a sheriff called one in to help arrest three cow thieves in North Dakota. And all to 'protect' you of course, against those bad people.Yes, cow thieves.

The military's interest in cutting edge urban combat technologies is not new. In an eerily prescient 1999 report by the Foreign Military Studies Office, researchers noted that the frequency and scale of urban combat is likely to increase.  (see the Last Hope post below) Yes urban combat is on the rise, and seems to be directly proportional to the technology used against the people.
The bug war is on, you may be the target, and Raid won't work.

You might want to arm yourself by carrying a fly swatter around with you.

Advanced technology doesn't win everything.