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用无人机开展调查的私家侦探
添加时间:2016-04-18 20:57:04 浏览次数: 作者:未知
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  • Chris Wright is a problem solver. Herclients come to her with an issue, a question, a mystery, and she figures outthe best way to find the answer – using whatever tools she can. “I use acombination of new technology and old technology, because I have to solve aproblem. So I’ve used everything from geese and dogs to Roombas to drones to GPS.”

    克丽丝. 莱特(Chris Wright)是解决麻烦的高手。她的客户带着问题和疑虑而来,她用尽各种工具帮助他们找到解决问题的最佳方案。“新老技术我都用,我需要解决问题,因此我得动用一切可以动用的工具,从野鸭、猎犬到伦巴(Roombas)吸尘机器人、无人机、以及GPS定位系统。”

    Wright is a private investigator1 – andowner of the Wright Group – based in Anaheim, California. She’s worked in thebusiness for more than 40 years, and has seen the tools available toinvestigators change dramatically. Early on, stakeouts in vans were important.More recently new technology in the form of tiny cameras and social media hasbegun to play a role. And she’s embraced those changes. Today, when the problem calls for it, sheuses drones to do her work.

    莱特是位私家侦探,也是总部位于加州的阿纳海姆的(Anaheim)莱特集团(Wright Group)的老板。从业四十余年,她见证了私家侦探可用工具巨大的变化。起初人们通常坐在货车里进行监视。近些年,小型照相机和社交媒体等新型科技崭露头角。对于这些变化她欣然接受。如今,若有需要,她会使用无人机作业。

    She gives me a few examples. If two peopleare meeting in a public place, a drone can be a helpful way to discreetly2 watchthem. “We stay at about 50-75 feet [15-23 metres] above so nothing can beheard.” Drones are also helpful for aerial surveillance of locations that arehard to access on foot. And if a school or church is worried someone might bestealing or vandalising property, drones or small off-road vehicles (“Roombas onsteroids”as she calls them) can film the property.

    她给我举了几个例子。如果两个人要在公共场所见面,使用无人机就可以有效地在暗地里监控他们。“无人机悬停在大约50到75英尺(15-23米)的空中,因此你听不到任何声音。”对于步行难以到达的地方,使用无人机进行高空监视也很管用。如果某所学校或者教堂担心财产被窃或毁坏,可以使用无人机或小型越野车(她叫他们”打了鸡血的机器人”)对财物进行监控。

    In one case, Wright was asked to figure outwhether or not a soda salesperson3 was crossing county lines and cheating on hiscontract. California is one of many states in which salespeople4 have regionalcontracts – for instance, Bob sells Pepsi in Los Angeles County and Nancy sellsPepsi in Orange County. If Nancy arrives at her usual businesses to sell herPepsi and finds the soda supply has already been topped up, there’s a goodchance that someone (perhaps Bob) has crossed county lines and sold illegally.

    有一次,莱特接到任务是调查一个汽水销售员是否跨越县境销售并进行合同诈骗。与很多州一样,加州的销售人员须签订区域合同——例如,鲍勃(Bob)在洛杉矶郡(Los Angeles County)卖百事可乐,南希(Nancy)在橘子郡(Orange County)卖百事可乐。如果南希到常去的商户推销汽水,发现他们的汽水进货量已经满了,那么很可能有人(也许是鲍勃)跨过了县境进行非法售卖。

    Wright was asked to figure out whether thiswas happening. To do so meant visiting every major soda wholesaler5 from SanLuis Obispo to San Diego – about 300 miles (480km) of California coast – andchecking whether any were selling soda from the wrong salesperson. When therewas illegal soda on sale, she would use a drone to follow the soda deliverytrucks back to their depots6. In one case, the warehouse7 the truck led her backto was out in the desert and would have been impossible to approach by car orfoot without being noticed. But the drone was able to spy on the truckscovertly. “We could see between the warehouse door and the truck loading.”

    莱特受雇调查这一情况是否属实。这意味着要沿着全长300多英里(480千米)加州海岸线,拜访从圣路易斯(San Luis Obispo)到圣迭戈(San Diego)的每一个汽水批发商,检查是否有人从错误的销售人员进货的行为。如果有非法来源的汽水在售,她就会用无人机跟踪运货车至仓库。有一次,货车把她带到的仓库位于一片沙漠之中,无论人还是车接近都会被发现。但是无人机能够悄无声息地监视货车。“我们可以看见卡车在仓库门间卸货。”

    Wright gets her drones from high-end toystores, for about $200 each. They’re an expensive investment: not only do youhave to buy the device, you also have to pay one or two people to pilot andspot the thing. And if you lose one during a mission, you’re out a good chunkof your budget. But it can be worth it, because for the cases in which they’re useful,they can be very useful indeed.

    莱特从高端玩具店购买她的无人机,每架约200美元。这是一项昂贵的投资:你不仅仅要买设备,还要雇一到两个人对其进行操控。如果在执行任务中不幸损失了一架,你的荷包就要大出血了。但这笔买卖还是划算的,因为在它们能发挥作用的任务中,这些无人机确实非常实用。

    Wright doesn’t pilot the drones herself. “Itry to hire gamers. I go to the colleges and high schools and I find out whothe geeks are, and then I hire them.” She said that her pilots are more skilledthan she would ever be – and they like the challenge. Some of them are workingtowards their own private investigator licences, and their hours piloting thelittle devices can count as hours towards their certification. (None ofWright’s gamer pilots were willing to talk for this article. “They’reintroverts,” she told me. “Not shy, but introverts8.”)

    莱特自己不操纵无人机。“我试着雇用无人机玩家,到大学和高中寻找极客玩家,然后雇用他们。”她说她永远赶不上手下那些飞行员们的技巧——而且他们喜欢挑战。有些人正在向拥有私家侦探执照方向努力,而他们操作无人机的小时数可以算作考取证书要求的工作时数。(莱特的无人机操纵员没有一个愿意接受采访的。“他们性格内向,”莱特告诉我。“不是害羞,而是内向。”)

    Understandably, the idea of using drones tospy on people isn’t something everybody is comfortable with. In a case in Seattlein 2013, a woman reported that someone was using a drone to spy on her. “Thisafternoon, a stranger set an aerial drone into flight over my yard and besidemy house near Miller9 Playfield,” she told the Capitol Hill Seattle Blog. “Iinitially mistook its noisy buzzing for a weed-whacker on this warm spring day.After several minutes, I looked out my third-story window to see a drone hoveringa few feet away.”Her husband asked the drone operator, who was standing10 nearby, tomove along –but the operator claimed to be acting11 within his legal rights.

    可以理解,不是每个人都能心安理得地认同用无人机监视别人的行为。2013年,一名女士报告称有人用无人机监视她。“今天下午,一个陌生人操作无人机飞至我的院子上空和我在米勒球场(Miller Playfield)附近的住宅。”她告诉国会山西雅图博客(Capitol Hill Seattle Blog)新闻网说。“今天是个暖洋洋的春日,起先我误以为嗡嗡的噪音是除草机的声音。几分钟后,我从家里三楼的窗户看出去,发现一架无人机就在几英尺外盘旋。”她丈夫让站在附近的操控者离开——但此人声称他是在法律允许下行使自己的权利。

    Tightening12 regulations

    监管加强

    Whether that’s true isn’t always clear.According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 35 statesconsidered adding drone bills to the books last year, and 10 states actuallydid add new laws. In Iowa, for example, it’s now illegal for the state to usedrones to enforce traffic laws. In North Carolina, no one can use a drone forsurveillance of a person or private property. And Tennessee now specifies13 thatit’s a misdemeanor to use drones for surveillance of people who arehunting or fishing.

    这种说法是否正确目前还没有明确的判定。根据全美州议会会议(National Conference of State Legislatures),去年有35个州考虑增加与无人机相关的法案,10个州确实增加了相关的新法律。例如,在爱荷华州(Iowa),利用无人机执行交通法规目前是违法的。在北卡罗来纳州(North Carolina),谁都无权使用无人机对个人或私有财产进行监视。而田纳西州(Tennessee)明确规定使用无人机对打猎或钓鱼的人进行监视被视为轻罪。

    Wright’s drone operations might soon becomelegally questionable14 too. Earlier this month, a California senator introduced abill that would extend property rights into airspace, meaning that drones flyingover private property would be considered trespassers. Just a few days beforethat, President Obama and the Federal Aviation Administration announced newdrone regulations as well, requiring – among other things – that drones must beunder 55lb (25kg) and that operators must keep the flying vehicles in sight atall times.

    莱特的无人机作业可能很快也将受到来自法律的质疑。本月早些时候,一位加州议员提出一项议案,要将财产权拓展到空中,这意味着在私有财产上空飞行的无人机将被视为入侵行为。这之前的几天,奥巴马总统(President Obama)和联邦航空管理局(Federal Aviation Administration)也宣布了新的无人机管理条例,其中规定无人机必须轻于55磅(25千克)且操纵者必须全程保证飞行器在自己视线内。

    Because the laws are murky15, many privateinvestigators steer16 clear of drones. “The use of drones for surveillance ishighly restricted by law,” said Kelly Riddle17, a private investigator in Texas.“There are air space regulations as well as privacy laws that can easily beviolated. Obtaining video using a drone has thus far been something that wehave been advised is illegal.” That’s because drones are often used to observeactivities that can’t be seen via a direct line of sight at ground level. Goingout of your way to spy on such activities is considered an invasion of privacy,says Riddle. A lot of Wright’s work sidesteps this privacy question, because it involves helpingschools and churches monitor their own property.

    由于法律界定模糊,很多私家侦探绕开了无人机。“使用无人机进行监视在法律上受到极大的限制,”德州(Texas)的一位私家侦探凯利. 里德尔(Kelly Riddle)说。“你很容易违反空间管制条例和隐私法。因此,早就有人提醒我们使用无人机摄像是违法的。”这是因为无人机经常用来观察一些活动,而这些活动在地面上是无法直接观察可得的。另辟蹊径来监视这样的活动被视作侵犯隐私,里德尔说。莱特的很多工作回避了这类隐私问题,因为它涉及帮助学校和教堂监控他们自己的财产。

    In all likelihood, the use of drones will berestricted under a more comprehensive set of rules and regulations in theUnited States sooner than later. But in the meantime Wright will continue touse them when they can help with her work. But she also says that regardless ofthe legality, if someone thinks their privacy is being compromised, they’regoing to do something about it. That can mean shooting down drones – anotheractivity that may or may not be legal. “I think a lot of my colleagues havelost them and realised that it is a tool, and if you invade someone’s privacy,well, if they can hit it they will.”

    在美国使用无人机很有可能将受到一系列综合性法律法规的约束,这是迟早的事。但同时当工作需要时,莱特会继续使用无人机。可她同时也说,撇开合法性问题不谈,如果有人认为个人隐私受到了侵犯,他们会对此采取行动的。这可能意味着把无人机打下来——这一行为是否合法尚不清晰。“我认为我的很多同事都已经损失过无人机了,而且也意识到了这只是个工具,如果你侵犯了别人的隐私,那么,如果他们能把它打下来,他们会的。

     9级    双语 


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    1 investigator [ɪnˈvestɪgeɪtə(r)] zRQzo   第9级
    n.研究者,调查者,审查者
    参考例句:
    • He was a special investigator for the FBI. 他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
    • The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal. 调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。
    2 discreetly [dis'kri:tli] nuwz8C   第8级
    ad.(言行)审慎地,慎重地
    参考例句:
    • He had only known the perennial widow, the discreetly expensive Frenchwoman. 他只知道她是个永远那么年轻的寡妇,一个很会讲排场的法国女人。
    • Sensing that Lilian wanted to be alone with Celia, Andrew discreetly disappeared. 安德鲁觉得莉莲想同西莉亚单独谈些什么,有意避开了。
    3 salesperson [ˈseɪlzpɜ:sn] 7Yoxa   第8级
    n.售货员,营业员,店员
    参考例句:
    • A salesperson works in a shop. 售货员在商店工作。
    • Vanessa is a salesperson in a woman's wear department. 凡妮莎是女装部的售货员。
    4 salespeople ['seɪlzˌpi:pl] xjuz25   第8级
    n.售货员,店员;售货员( salesperson的名词复数 )
    参考例句:
    • The shop usually employs additional salespeople for the Christmas toy trade. 这家商店通常雇一些临时售货员来做圣诞节玩具生意。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
    • Under our new system, salespeople sit down with each of our dealers. 根据新的制度,销售人员应逐个地同承销商洽商。 来自辞典例句
    5 wholesaler ['həʊlseɪlə(r)] 6e9z3h   第8级
    n.批发商
    参考例句:
    • We're the largest furniture wholesaler in Illinois. 我们是伊利诺伊州最大的家具批发商。 来自辞典例句
    • These are used to create profiles for each wholesaler. 这是他日常的工作或通过与批发商的正式会谈。 来自互联网
    6 depots ['depəʊz] 94513a1433eb89e870b48abe4ad940c2   第9级
    仓库( depot的名词复数 ); 火车站; 车库; 军需库
    参考例句:
    • Public transportation termini and depots are important infrastructures for a city. 公交场站设施是城市重要的基础设施。
    • In the coastal cities are equipped with after-sales service and depots. 在各沿海城市均设有服务部及售后维修站。
    7 warehouse [ˈweəhaʊs] 6h7wZ   第7级
    n.仓库;vt.存入仓库
    参考例句:
    • We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck. 我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
    • The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse. 经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。
    8 introverts [ˈɪntrəˌvɜ:ts] b81c5949c0b0faaba404851f8303d872   第10级
    性格内向的人( introvert的名词复数 )
    参考例句:
    • Extroverts tend to lack self-discipline while introverts lack courage. 性格外向的人缺乏自我约束力,而性格内向的人则缺乏勇气。
    • I an introvert and introverts get drawn in. 我是个内向的人而且内向是天生的。
    9 miller [ˈmɪlə(r)] ZD6xf   第8级
    n.磨坊主
    参考例句:
    • Every miller draws water to his own mill. 磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
    • The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski. 技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。
    10 standing [ˈstændɪŋ] 2hCzgo   第8级
    n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
    参考例句:
    • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing. 地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
    • They're standing out against any change in the law. 他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
    11 acting [ˈæktɪŋ] czRzoc   第7级
    n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的
    参考例句:
    • Ignore her, she's just acting. 别理她,她只是假装的。
    • During the seventies, her acting career was in eclipse. 在七十年代,她的表演生涯黯然失色。
    12 tightening ['taɪtnɪŋ] 19aa014b47fbdfbc013e5abf18b64642   第7级
    上紧,固定,紧密
    参考例句:
    • Make sure the washer is firmly seated before tightening the pipe. 旋紧水管之前,检查一下洗衣机是否已牢牢地固定在底座上了。
    • It needs tightening up a little. 它还需要再收紧些。
    13 specifies [spesɪfaɪs] 65fd0845f2dc2c4c95f87401e025e974   第7级
    v.指定( specify的第三人称单数 );详述;提出…的条件;使具有特性
    参考例句:
    • The third clause of the contract specifies steel sashes for the windows. 合同的第三款指定使用钢窗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
    • The contract specifies red tiles, not slates, for the roof. 合同规定屋顶用红瓦,并非石板瓦。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
    14 questionable [ˈkwestʃənəbl] oScxK   第8级
    adj.可疑的,有问题的
    参考例句:
    • There are still a few questionable points in the case. 这个案件还有几个疑点。
    • Your argument is based on a set of questionable assumptions. 你的论证建立在一套有问题的假设上。
    15 murky [ˈmɜ:ki] J1GyJ   第12级
    adj.黑暗的,朦胧的;adv.阴暗地,混浊地;n.阴暗;昏暗
    参考例句:
    • She threw it into the river's murky depths. 她把它扔进了混浊的河水深处。
    • She had a decidedly murky past. 她的历史背景令人捉摸不透。
    16 steer [stɪə(r)] 5u5w3   第7级
    vt.驾驶,为…操舵;引导;vi.驾驶
    参考例句:
    • If you push the car, I'll steer it. 如果你来推车,我就来驾车。
    • It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you. 想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。
    17 riddle [ˈrɪdl] WCfzw   第7级
    n.谜;谜语;vt. 解谜;出谜题;充满;筛选;vi.出谜题
    参考例句:
    • The riddle couldn't be solved by the child. 这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
    • Her disappearance is a complete riddle. 她的失踪完全是一个谜。

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