(from WaPo)High-Tech Surveillance Robobugs at Political Events. WTF?

[mod mom]

Dragonfly or Insect Spy? Scientists at Work on Robobugs.

By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 9, 2007; Page A03



Vanessa Alarcon saw them while working at an antiwar rally in Lafayette Square last month.

"I heard someone say, 'Oh my god, look at those,' " the college senior from New York recalled. "I look up and I'm like, 'What the hell is that?' They looked kind of like dragonflies or little helicopters. But I mean, those are not insects."

-snip




"I'd never seen anything like it in my life," the Washington lawyer said. "They were large for dragonflies. I thought, 'Is that mechanical, or is that alive?' "

That is just one of the questions hovering over a handful of similar sightings at political events in Washington and New York. Some suspect the insectlike drones are high-tech surveillance tools, perhaps deployed by the Department of Homeland Security.

-snip

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/08/AR2007100801434.html

[mod mom]

1. photo at link (pretty creepy!)

[peacebird]

2. it would be interesting to catch one -

perhaps we should start carrying butterfly nets?

After all - it would be a pretty neat little butterfly for the collection....

[bonito]

3. And in a breeze they can latch on to tin foil hats

To keep them from blowing away.;-)

[mod mom]

4. The article did say birds can eat them and they can get caught in spider webs.

A friend sent more information, but it didn't have a link so I was hoping if others read this they might add more.

The information said they can hone onto any electronic device (cell phone, computer) and lock into it.

[autorank]

5. Now things get interesting. Turn about is fair play. K*R

This technology will be adapted by technies everywhere and deployed in a number of ways. I bet
some clever folks actually use them to spy on politicians. The loss of the original 'buggers' will
be huge.

Congrats mod mom, we're now officially through the looking glass.