Drones have become the most hated weapon of mass destruction in Middle-East, Afghanistan and Pakistan. While the American media has been brainwashed to use terms such as “surgical” and “precise” to refer the drone strikes but in reality, drones have resulted in deaths of several thousand innocent civilians. An average Facebook user has over 338 friends, so every thousand innocent people that have been killed in drone attacks, 338,000 friends of the victims have been directly impacted by such killings. Such drone killings go absolutely unnoticed and majority of the governments and people in the world don’t have time for a poor family in middle-east or Afghanistan getting blown apart into pieces in a drone attack. Unfortunately, the families who lost their loved ones in drone attacks don’t have internet connectivity to post the pictures of the left-over pieces of the bodies on Facebook, so that our conscious can come alive. But that can change if Facebook succeeds in providing internet connectivity to all.
Facebook has an innovative idea to provide internet connectivity to all those who cannot afford an internet connections. While this idea also involves drones, but this drone doesn’t kill people. It rather gives internet connectivity to the people below and mostly operates on Solar Power. On June 28th, Facebook conducted first successful flight of it’s drone called Aquila.
(Image shared by Mark Zukerberg on Facebook post showing specifications of Aquila)
Mark Zukerberg says “It’s all part of our mission to connect the world and help more of the 4 billion people who are not online access all the opportunities of the internet”. Aquila can fly non-stop for 90 days providing internet connectivity to thousands of people below on the earth. A fleet of Aquila drones can cover entire continents, providing not just internet access but a new power to connect with the world and share their stories.
Some analysts have cautioned on Facebook’s motives behind such a project. There is a strong possibility that, the internet connectivity will come with some restrictions and will be serving the goal of Facebook to get every person on the earth on Facebook. If that happens, Facebook will become the most powerful advertising medium replacing Google Ad Platform, the traditional television advertising, etc.
Unintentionally, Facebook is trying to give a voice to the voiceless. It remains to be seen, what the future will unfold, both for Facebook and those who are effected with drones. We hope that in future, there is only one type of drone in the skies, the one that doesn’t kill innocent people. And if the future consists of two types of drones on top of people, then don’t be surprised if Facebook gets flooded with the images of limbs and hands of young children who lost their lives in drone attacks.
PS: The Intercept has been doing excellent coverage on the loss of innocent lives due to drone attacks. Check out: https://theintercept.com/search/?s=drones
