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A GROUP WHO performed at the Science Gallery’s Hack the City launch in Dublin last night have been held in a London airport under the terrorism act.
The group, called Tomorrows Thoughts Today, had brought their ‘Electronic Countermeasures’ performance to Dublin in recent days, which features several small hovering drones which are capable of creating their own wi-fi network, or file sharing network.
Liam Young, one of the members of the group tweeted earlier:
Have been held for hours under schedule 7 of the terrorist act when returning from our electronic countermeasures @sciencegallery dublin.
Another – Oliviu Lugojan-Ghenciu - questioned whether their Twitter activities had been monitored, and whether social networking being used as a “military tool”:
Tomorrows Thoughts Today describe the Electronic Countermeasures project as a “flock of interactive autonomous drones that form their own place specific, temporary, local WIFI community – a pirate internet…. a flying pirate file sharing network”.
Last night in the Science Gallery those in attendance were able to upload files to the drones as the floated above them.
The drones have been specially built using components that were originally intended to be used for police surveillance and reconnaissance.
Young tweeted today that:
Flying our drones is unregulated and unlicensed at the moment. This won’t last long. Low level airspace will become exceptionally controlled.
Silicon Republic reports that the group was held at London Southend Airport, while Lugojan-Ghenciu provided a picture of their bags being searched.
He also tweeted:
“Just incredible how easy you could be filed Schedule 7, based on customs’ lack of tech knowledge”.
A spokesperson for the Science Gallery told TheJournal.ie that increased security in advance of the London Olympics may be behind the incident.
The spokesperson also said that many drones that were originally intended for military use or surveillance in the middle east have now been decommissioned and are being used by police forces for surveillance purposes.
Meanwhile the Irish Aviation Authority has said that it is investigating the use of small drones for filming in Dublin city for a different project. The resulting film called Loitering Theatre will be screened as part of Hack the City, which features images of Dublin captured by mini drones.
A spokesperson for the IAA told TheJournal.ie said that this sort of activity is prohibited as the city is classed as a restricted area.
The Hack the City programme runs until September and includes an exhibition at the Science Gallery which will allow visitors to cloak their movements with stealth underwear, consider new uses for ghost estates and teach them how to hack into wireless surveillance cameras.
How Electronic Countermeasures works:
Image: Claus Langer
Small point to note. The money was taken from prepaid visa and mastercards. To say money was taken from customers is factually incorrect. The money was taken from the banks. Which is an interesting juxtaposition.
Juxtaposition: now there’s a word ya don’t hear everyday
@paul exactly.i dont see the problem here.banks rob from people.people rob from the banks.everyone is a victim on the merry-go-round :-)
Two other small points to note:
1. This was news in February:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL6N0BQ1C720130226?irpc=932
2. The compromised bank is in Oman, not UAE.
I like fluffy bunnies
It’s a drop in the ocean compared to the €60bn+ fraud that was carried out against the Irish people.
Haha you crack me up Stephen, you make a very original point there about how the irish people are paying for a bailout
Sad but so true.
The Journal is not about breaking news. It is about the readers enriching and adding value to the stories through thoughtful and sometimes fun comments… not always achieved though…
Couldn’t agree more. Half the time its the comments I’m here for.
Get your act together Journal this was news 2 days ago
Better late than never.
This was in the daily mail, the guardian, the BBC, sky and itv yesterday. Why is it only appearing in journal tonight?
Ancient news
Some f*cker tapped my credit card today….not happy…fair play to BOI for being on the ball…
The journal is letting standards drop :-)
Bet no one from The Journal will comment !
But they’re great at letting us know what we were listening to in the 90′s.
horrible amount of comments complaining that this isnt breaking news….so what!!!! is your brain so brainwashed by the internet and sky news-ology?
have your say