Google Beats Facebook to Acquire Solar Drone CompanyNicholas West It now appears that Google has taken the lead, purchasing the company for what some speculate is more than the initial price of $60 million dollars that was being considered by Facebook. Business Insider has provided some of the known details about how Google might use this new acquisition: (Additional note: DARPA also has begun research into using drones as wireless hotspots for military applications.) Even as the debate intensifies over the scope of drone warfare and surveillance, significant upgrades continue and the drone industry booms. The trend is toward a future of autonomous fleets of large-scale war fighters combined with increasing miniaturization that will make drone tech part of the fabric of our everyday lives. The latest developments focus on ways to not only get these new drone models aloft via remote control, or through their own autonomous decisions, but how to keep them there for as long as possible perhaps even permanently by harvesting power from the environment. Titan Aerospace was the first to introduce the concept of a solar drone, as youll see in the video below. The ability to potentially blanket the Earth with a permanent drone presence to send and receive data has now caught the attention of Facebook which, reports indicate, seek to acquire Titan in a possible $60 million purchase. First a bit of history to illustrate how military tech trickles down into the consumer market. It is especially important to understand in light of the NSA surveillance revelations and how closely aligned the worlds largest tech companies are to Big Brother government across the world. Toward the end of 2011 a program called MUSIC was made public and revealed the goals of Future Combat Systems essentially a network of ground-based and sky-based systems that could communicate and operate as a seamless and permanent intranet of war and surveillance. Since that time, the technology has been publicly rolled out demonstrating the capability for drones to stay aloft for increasing periods of time. This was revealed in a drone industry report provided by Aerospace and Defense News covering plans for 2013-2023, where it states: It is important as a related note that these drones eventually will be equipped with the latest in biometric capabilities, namely facial recognition, as was announced in the following Associated Press article: The fact that what used to be conspiracy talk is now openly discussed in corporate media as we head toward a full implementation of drones over the U.S. by 2015 is likely not a coincidence. This is the backdrop as we enter the arena of solar-powered drones that Facebook is interested in acquiring. CBS News reported in October of last year that Titan Aerospace has developed its Solara line of drones which can fly continuously for up to five years. Here is the promo video: The solar concept is also being offered as the next gen tech to be applied to already existing micro drones that are designed to mimic nature. In May of last year, I covered the announcement of a 3D printed drone called Robo Raven that utilizes 3D-printed components to produce a first of its kind: independently flapping wings. The new version of Robo Raven features solar cells added to its wings: As noted by Ars Technica, the concept of solar powered flying machines has existed since the late 1970s, but just now is being incorporated into drone tech in an effective way. And lest anyone believe that this technology is not intended for full use over the United States, an interesting map is offered in the Ars Technica article linked above showing the range of the solar drone, Solara 50. And here we are currently right within this time frame as the Facebook news makes the rounds. As TechCrunch is reporting, the Internet.org initiative is backed by a handful of telecom companies and Facebook. In the end, Internet.org presents a means of ushering in a single planetary Internet. First, however, it will begin in regions that are currently lacking in traditional infrastructure: When we begin to put the pieces together, we can begin to see the dual-use that could be employed on the back of Facebooks solar drone infrastructure. Interestingly, Mark Zuckerberg is invoking human rights as part of the sales pitch for Internet.org: I would submit that true human rights should never be imposed. In so doing, what we really are likely to see is a means of getting anyone and everyone into the system which those of us who are already connected are being subjected to: backdoors to violating essential civil liberties and human rights. Secondly, the idea that Facebook will not seek ways to commodify these human rights is dubious at best. The right to remain free (opt out) of government and corporate surveillance are the true human rights at stake here. Both are sure to be threatened if Facebook, the telecom industry, and totalitarian governments bring this concept into reality. Recently from Nicholas West: Updated: 4/15/2014 