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Bart Kela

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Oct 12, 2016
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593
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Discharging a firearm is illegal within the city limits of Cupertino unless A.) in self-defense or B.) with the approval of the Chief of Police. Most incorporated cities in Silicon Valley have similar regulations.

It is highly unlikely that Apple Inc. would receive authorization to allow for the use of firearms to disable drones, especially because it is in a highly developed area with pedestrians, cyclists, a large freeway, residences, parks, two hotels, a hospital, and an elementary school all adjacent or nearby the Apple Park campus, not to mention the planned 10,000 person occupancy of the development.

Specially trained birds of prey are a possible yet unlikely option.
 

MacTech68

macrumors 68020
Mar 16, 2008
2,393
211
Australia, Perth
Don't forget Apple's "Last Resort" to drones flying over Apple Park as Craig jokingly revealed in the WWDC Keynote: ;)

I don't know if I'm reading too much into it, but it seemed Apple may have been trying to say they think it's a problem.

ApplePark Drones Last Resort - Blast Off.jpg
 

zkadda

Suspended
Jun 21, 2017
21
11
Dealing with illegal drone flights is simple. All it takes,is a 12-bore shotgun or a special trained peregrine falcon.

A shotgun? They fire lead shot - tiny lead beads which spray and disperse, the spray pattern diverging very rapidly. Can't see that working. I would be using a burning laser pointer to burn the pixels out of the camera sensor and to melt the prop hubs.

Source: I live in a little English village and am friends with the lord of the manor, and have seen more shotguns than most.
 

TAZ911

macrumors regular
Sep 11, 2014
100
85
A shotgun? They fire lead shot - tiny lead beads which spray and disperse, the spray pattern diverging very rapidly. Can't see that working. I would be using a burning laser pointer to burn the pixels out of the camera sensor and to melt the prop hubs.

Source: I live in a little English village and am friends with the lord of the manor, and have seen more shotguns than most.

Yup. Shotguns are considered firearms, so discharge within Citi limits is regulated as mentioned above.

You'd figure Apple if all places could have some high tech defense against drones. Seriously there isn't a single sparky working at Apple who can figure out a way to scramble the brains of a drone. After a few thousand + dollar drones go brain dead , people might get the message.
 

zkadda

Suspended
Jun 21, 2017
21
11
Yup. Shotguns are considered firearms, so discharge within Citi limits is regulated as mentioned above.

You'd figure Apple if all places could have some high tech defense against drones. Seriously there isn't a single sparky working at Apple who can figure out a way to scramble the brains of a drone. After a few thousand + dollar drones go brain dead , people might get the message.

It's not that hard - a GIANT perimeter mesh Faraday cage encasing the whole of Apple park at the perimeter, and over the top. Doesn't matter what drone you have, though, it can't see through walls and locked lab doors.
 

Floris

macrumors 68020
Sep 7, 2007
2,382
1,478
Netherlands
It would have been more helpful for apple to remove quality from these videos and have a progress video done by an outlet that does it with a license and permission, or something along those lines.

But kudos to this guy for his fun videos, it's part of history. illegal or not. Like jobs said, this is our world. minecraft it the way you want... ok, he didn't say that, ..
 
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Stefan johansson

macrumors 65816
Apr 13, 2017
1,294
607
Sweden
A shotgun? They fire lead shot - tiny lead beads which spray and disperse, the spray pattern diverging very rapidly. Can't see that working. I would be using a burning laser pointer to burn the pixels out of the camera sensor and to melt the prop hubs.

Source: I live in a little English village and am friends with the lord of the manor, and have seen more shotguns than most.
Lead shot? Well,guess you never fired a shotgun,lead shot has been forbidden in most civilized countries for the last 20 years or so,today's shot is made from steel,molybden,or for smaller prey plastic. And if you wonder how I know this,I can tell you I been hunting with shotguns and rifles the last 40 years.
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A shotgun? They fire lead shot - tiny lead beads which spray and disperse, the spray pattern diverging very rapidly. Can't see that working. I would be using a burning laser pointer to burn the pixels out of the camera sensor and to melt the prop hubs.

Source: I live in a little English village and am friends with the lord of the manor, and have seen more shotguns than most.
Was mostly talking about illegal drones in general,but of course,for a low flying drone,a BB gun would also work. And about trained birds, in Europe we still use those for hunting sometimes.
 
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zkadda

Suspended
Jun 21, 2017
21
11
Lead shot? Well,guess you never fired a shotgun,lead shot has been forbidden in most civilized countries for the last 20 years or so,today's shot is made from steel,molybden,or for smaller prey plastic. And if you wonder how I know this,I can tell you I been hunting with shotguns and rifles the last 40 years.
[doublepost=1499239648][/doublepost]
Was mostly talking about illegal drones in general,but of course,for a low flying drone,a BB gun would also work. And about trained birds, in Europe we still use those for hunting sometimes.

I've seen more shotgun cartridges than most people ever do. I've lived in a small English village for 35 years, surrounded by fields which are 2 mins walk from my house, visible from my garden, where they shoot pheasant and partridge every week. The point was the shot, not the lead - methinks you're just being pedantic, shot was the point, it scatters and would be ineffective against a drone, most likely.

Yes, I've shot a shotgun, I've taken cartridges apart too, and my best friend of 35 year's Dad was the gamekeeper since the 1980s and his kitchen drawers were FULL of cartridges and shot refills.
 

Stefan johansson

macrumors 65816
Apr 13, 2017
1,294
607
Sweden
I've seen more shotgun cartridges than most people ever do. I've lived in a small English village for 35 years, surrounded by fields which are 2 mins walk from my house, visible from my garden, where they shoot pheasant and partridge every week. The point was the shot, not the lead - methinks you're just being pedantic, shot was the point, it scatters and would be ineffective against a drone, most likely.

Yes, I've shot a shotgun, I've taken cartridges apart too, and my best friend of 35 year's Dad was the gamekeeper since the 1980s and his kitchen drawers were FULL of cartridges and shot refills.
Ok,maybe laws are different in different parts of Europe,I can not even buy lead shot or lead shot cartridges anymore,so I have to use plastic shot for my gun,as steel would ruin the barrels. Of course,that might depend on caliber,bore and the actual age of the gun,but as I only use shotguns for pheasants,ducks and quail,the plastic shots work for me.
 

jtara

macrumors 68020
Mar 23, 2009
2,008
536
Yawn.

At least it is a fairly safe place to fly drones. Everyone below is wearing a hardhat!

I notice a small swarm of drones darting around downtown San Diego during the annual July 4 fireworks display yesterday. NOT a great place to fly a drone (many buildings, large crowds, and right on the edge of a flight path - definitely within the flight path exclusion zone!)
 

ApfelKuchen

macrumors 601
Aug 28, 2012
4,335
3,012
Between the coasts
As a law-abiding corporate citizen (no comments from those who believe Apple is a tax cheat), Apple can't take the law into its own hands except when faced with certain kinds of immediate peril (eg., threat of bodily harm). So, no shotguns, lasers, butterfly nets suspended from helicopters, or other Rube Goldberg/Star Wars defenses. Besides, Apple would be foolish to try to bring 'em down - the pilot is responsible for property damage and injuries that might occur, up until the moment that someone interferes with the flight. At that moment, responsibility for mayhem transfers to the person/company that interfered. Why would Apple want to own that?

Why might Apple have tolerated drone flights for the past several years, but is now trying to chase them off? Could it be that there are now employees at work behind some of those windows, so that a drone may now be engaged in industrial espionage, rather than posting construction progress videos to YouTube?

Had that Apple security person called the local police, they'd likely have brought a trespassing complaint (you think it's not trespassing unless your feet touch the ground??). The local authorities aren't competent or empowered to enforce Federal Aviation Agency rules, so the notion of petitioning the FAA to declare its neighborhood a No Fly Zone isn't even on Apple's radar (so to speak).
 
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