amazon prime air: move over NSA, amazon does drones too

[silverwhisper]

in last night's 60 minutes, amazon chief jeff bezos revealed that in 4-5 years amazon will offer a delivery service they're calling prime air: delivery via drone. seriously.

commentary: so the guy who purchased the washington post earlier this year will be deploying a l337 drone fleet in 4-5 years...and everyone's OK with this? am i alone in finding this...alarming?

ed

 

[bailadora]

in last night's 60 minutes, amazon chief jeff bezos revealed that in 4-5 years amazon will offer a delivery service they're calling prime air: delivery via drone. seriously.

commentary: so the guy who purchased the washington post earlier this year will be deploying a l337 drone fleet in 4-5 years...and everyone's OK with this? am i alone in finding this...alarming?

ed

Saw this just this morning. Honestly, I thought it was rather cool. 'Cause, ya know, when I order something online, I want it NOW.

I didn't really stop to think of other implications.

 

[silverwhisper]

here's the thing. bezos is by all accounts a brilliant businessman.

he is also however AFAICT a megalomaniac. a very charismatic one, but still a megalomaniac. and i'd be very, very concerned about exactly how they effect delivery. are they gonna call your phone & leave a message? SMS?

don't get me wrong, i think the idea's cool as hell.

but it's also very powerful and we don't yet know exactly what other information the drones will be capable of transmitting.

never mind what would happen if someone could wrest control away from amazon of one of these things.

ed

 

[bailadora]

Kind of like Tony Stark, only not as cute? I see what you're saying. Yeah, that'd be a huge problem.

Another other thing to wonder about is about is how high or low those things would have to fly in order to not interfere with current air traffic. Then what if other companies want to launch their own drones (provided they have the funding). Suddenly, I'm seeing a lot more congested airways overhead. Hmmm. Yeah, there's a reason most people try not to buy a house near an airport.