text: Agentura.ru - Big Brother, little drones
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  Big Brother, little drones
  Russia's police are starting to use unmanned drones much more often for monitoring street protest rallies. This sinister development has the complete support of President Putin.
  Many of the protestors at the first mass demonstration in Bolotnaya Square on 10 December 2011 were confused by the unfamiliar aerial vehicle with propellers circling overhead. Some even thought it might be a UFO. The mysterious device turned out to be a radio-controlled aircraft being used byRidus, the agency for 'citizen journalism' to photograph the demonstration.
  From that time the Interior Ministry started purchasing drones regularly. The designer and manufacturer of the drone used during the G8 summit is a group of companies called Zala Aero, set up at the beginning of the 2000s inIzhevsk. The Interior Ministry Aviation Centre and the FSB Border Services soon became regular customers. According to company data, there are approximately 20 people on the staff; the company is private, rather than being based in the huge Soviet aviation enterprises like most of the other drone manufacturers.
  Deploying the drones outside cities is, however, more promising, as they can circulate virtually without restriction over fields and woods, where there are private cottages and dachas. The operator of the control station can see on his screen in real time everything that is happening on this private land, without the owners knowing, though undercover surveillance of a house requires the permission of a court. The more drones there are in operation, the more transparent our private life will come.