Back in December, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos attempted to use drones to deliver Christmas presents. Apparently Bezos isn’t the only one showing interested in drone activity.
Facebook wants to buy Titan Aerospace for about $60 million dollars. Titan Aerospace is a company that makes solar powered drones that can stay in the air for five years without landing. One of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s passions is to supply Internet access for the billions who have no online access. They want to use these drones to blanket the world with the Internet, starting with Africa, the continent with the least access. These drones would be atmospheric satellites that will operate in orbit. They’re looking to build over 10,000 Solara 50/60 models. In the daytime, they ?store energy stretching 20KM above sea level, making them ripe for regional Internet systems.
I respect where Facebook’s heart is. I’ve always believe that in 2014, everyone should have online access if they’re going to even have a shot at global competition or to have a chance to stay in the race. But I’m weary about using drones to do it. That’s because drones have been in the news for not so good reasons: to spy on people, to get information on people and turn it against them, even to kill people. And thinking about what part of the world this is going to, this could easily happen. Do you think drones can be used to bring good to those who need it? Or are drones just inherently evil?