26 T3 Tomorrow ’s TechnologyTodayMARCH2 019 WWW.T3INDIA.COMOpinion
henyou spendyour life
immersedup to the
waist in tech, it’s easy
to forget that most
people don’t reallyknow all that
muchabout it,andthat includes
thepeoplerunningthecountry.
Ithinkwe allwitnessedthat
whenadroneordronesthat may
or maynothave actuallyexisted,
causedtheUK’ssecondbiggest
airporttoshutfortwodays,just
beforeXmas.Icertainlygot to
witness it,becauseIwasmeantto
be flying out of Gatwick at the
time.
It’s probablyunfair to expect
transport secretaryChris Grayling
toknow muchaboutdrones,
becauseheseemslikethe kind
of fellow who strugglesjust to
walkandbreathesimultaneously
withouthis centralnervous system
collapsing.Youcanseethe
concern etched into his face every
timesomeonetells himatrivialnew
fact, concerned that it maynot
leaveroominhisbrain forhowto
speakEnglish,orusethetoilet.
It’salsonotnecessarilyfair to
thinkthat thepolice could have
reactedwithabitmorealacrityto
this autonomous flying assault on
Gatwick. Anywhere else in the
world they’d have shot the drone
down withinafewhoursofthefirst
sighting.InAmerica,localradio
would haveputoutacalland
Gatwick’s carparkwould have
been full of armed men,women
and children barbecuingmeats and
havinga‘shootdownthedrone’
party, within about 15 minutes.
Nothere in Blightythough.
That’s not how we do things.
Foreigners mayhave their fancy
ideas about a) making sure adrone
actually exists or not and b) if itturns out to actually
exist,gettingrid of it,
before ruiningpre-
Christmas breaks forrimportant
techjournalists. Butwe’re made of
sternerstuff.
Grayling and theffuzz aside,I
don’t thinkit’s unreasonableto
hope that someone, somewhere in
the civil service or securityforces
should have an inkling about what
adroneisandwhatharm itcould
cause. And not when it’s hovering
in the flightpath of ajumbojet, but
when theyfirst applyfor clearance
tobesoldin shops.Gameofdrones
Incaseyou slept throughthe
pre-Christmasperiod and have no
idea what I’m on about,let me fill
youin,misterVanWinkle.Adrone
was sighted over Gatwick, and
since adrone maybeableto
destroy, or atleastdamage, awere reallysparrows,or
clouds withrotors.
This doubt over whether there
wasorwasn’tadroneis what’s
scary.Noterroristgroupclaimed
responsibilityfor this. Not even ISIS,
agroup ofsuch malign boastfulness
they once claimedonline that they
were responsiblefor me hittinga
potholeonmybikeandfalling over.
But we andthey nowknow that
millions ofpounds can be wasted –
and thousands ofpeople royally
pissed off– not only byflying a
drone near a runwaybut also,
potentially, bynotflying a drone
near a runway.
This circles mebackto my
originalpoint, whichis that alot
ofpeople, including those in
government,don’tknow alot about
tech.Whothoughtitwasagood
idea to allow somethingto be sold
in shops that can bring down a 747?
And iftechnology exists that can
prevent adrone attackon an
airport,whydon’tBritain’sbiggest
airports have that technology?
Iwas only going to Malagafor a
few days, and I got my money back.
And I do completely understand
the ‘safetyfirst’ approach that
Gatwickandthepolice took.
However, the drone/imaginary
dronethatruined Christmasis
another example ofhow our world
isnowliterallyruledbycooltech...
thatalotofpeople don’t haveany
understanding of.We now know that
millions of pounds can
be wasted bynot flying a
droneneararunway
W
plane, theyshut the airport. For
two days. Supposedlywhile
bringing in militaryhardware to
jam the drone’s signals, or
something.
Then,in a bizarre twist,the local
plod said there might not have
been adrone at all,andit wasjust
someone seeing a pigeon and
panicking,causingawaveofmass
hysteria that led to thousands
more ‘sightings’ of drones thatAn attempt at a pre-Xmas short break goes
disastrously wrong thanks to tech
Duncan Bell
is droning on