Drones going mainstream

Great article in today's Washington Times. Read it in full. Then think about the implications for Latin America when you know the following groups will have access to unmanned aerial vehicles in the coming decade:

• Militaries
• Police
• Private security contractors
• Organized criminal groups
• Gangs
• Human Rights NGOs
• Shipping companies
• Schools

I recently gave several talks on the implications of criminal groups and private security organizations getting drones in Latin America. It changes the security environment in ways that will be tough for the already overwhelmed governments to manage. 

At a more general level, in some places, the regulations aren't in place for anyone to be using these devices. Where there are regulations, they are often poorly enforced.