The concept of government surveillance pigeons is a tough one. They walk like pigeons, squawk like pigeons, and everything we’ve grown up believing about pigeons is a lie.
It’s no surprise that we hear “i kILLeD A rOboT pIgEon aNd iT wAsN’t mEtAL. Well no shit, an obviously robot surveillance camera walking about would draw attention and that wouldn’t be a very effective method for invading your privacy. The success of the pigeon surveillance drone program is entirely down to the fact that these ‘robots’ blend into the everyday. There are however some tell tale signs when you know what you’re looking at – for example the explanation behind why pigeons bob their heads when they walk. But you really wouldn’t look twice at a pigeon anywhere in London, even when they’re taking the tube.
The modern pigeonbot is made possible by decades of technological advancements in surveillance equipment and more importantly, the emerging field of biotechnology. The metabolic power of the living pigeon host is essentially harnessed by the government’s control. This diagram illustrates how some of the key surveillance equipment is strategically embedded in the organism.
The main components of the pigeon drone are the camera, microphone and wireless antenna. The camera and microphone are the obvious recording devices collecting public information on the streets. The wireless antenna broadcasts the information to central facilities where the data is analysed. A new addition in 2020 pigeon drones is a wifi interceptor. As they perch on your windowsill, hacking your private network.
The inductive charging coil is another recent addition to the pigeon drone. Using magnetic charging technology, the surveillance pigeon can recharge from electricity pylons around the country. This has greatly enhanced their time in the field and flying range. In past times, the surveillance drone would have returned to data centres where the recordings were downloaded and the pigeon was recharged.
Advances in battery technology, becoming smaller and more powerful have also aided the pigeon drone. Being lighter and more agile the pigeon can convincingly walk and fly better than ever before. The remaining component is the CPU which acts as the brain for the surveillance technology. While the pigeon organism itself, still has its natural brain powering the animals instincts, the CPU contains the biotech to control the pigeon via impulse. The processor also acts to encode the surveillance data and transmit the data via its internal wireless communication.
Hopefully this clears up all the confusion about what a pigeon is, and how they’ve come to be.
