Red, White & Drone: The Unmanned Machines Invade The States
By Elizabeth Preza
Since Americans have decided that foreign drones are mostly good, and have yet to really freak out about the use of drones at home, domestic agencies are rapidly looking to increase operations for nonmilitary unmanned vehicles in the US.
It’s a New Age example of the classic idiom, “If you can’t beat them, join them” (read: put them to use in the homeland).
As evidence emerges that maybe we don’t know everything about what the government is doing with drones in other countries, law enforcement agencies, NASA, and even PETA are expanding their use of drones at home.
For law enforcement, drones have become prominent tools for surveillance since last year, when a federal law cleared the way for police and first responders to make use of the developing technology. Drones are already used to track movement along the U.S. border, and agencies are reviewing options for search-and-recue tools improved by drone technology.
Still, while most people can get on board with catching foreign criminals and finding stranded hitchhikers, the good ol’ American mantra (…”Freedom!”) has some calling for a second look at this Big Brother-esque surveillance. But guidelines and regulations are coming mostly top-up, with localities taking the first steps to limit drone use; the Seattle Police department, for example, was forced to return two unused drones after protests from citizens calling for their immediate ban.
And, in New York City, the ever-eloquent Mayor Michael Bloomberg conceded in March that while drones are “scary,” they’re pretty much inevitable. Though reasonable questions about constitutionality have been levied against domestic drones, Bloomberg said he’s not quite sure how to maintain privacy in the Drone Age because “we’re going into a different world” and “you can’t keep the tides from coming in.”
Privacy concerns aside, drones can do pretty cool things. Just last month, NASA sent three drones into Costa Rica’s noxious Tirruabla volcano to survey global climate predictions and environmental data. And PETA is looking to create it’s own fleet of unmanned aircraft vehicles to monitor hunters, an idea inspired by the recent implementation of drones to catch rhino poachers in India’s Kaziranga National Park.
Still, with 30,000 private drones expected in the US by 2020, the theoretical purposes of drones include much more than climate control and wildlife conservation. Real estate companies, news organizations, and even the University of Missouri Journalism School are looking to expand drone use as soon as the FAA relaxes its regulations. In fact, drone journalism is expected to skyrocket in future years, because it allows reporters to get close to dangerous scenes without actually being close to danger.
Of course, drones that sell homes and drones that report the news raise few ethical concerns (unless you have a legitimate stake in the Dronorazzi debate.) And drones visiting noxious volcanoes or cracking down on poachers are highly productive uses of this new technology.
But everyone’s all over the place with drone ethics. There is no real standard or precedent for when it’s appropriate or responsible to pilot an HD camera over people’s homes and backyards. And, while drones may be able to do cool things, privacy concerns aren’t really something that can be set aside.
It’s easy to see the benefits of this new technology, and it’s easy to despair over the pitfalls of security.
What’s not easy is coming up with some sort of cohesive law to dictate domestic drones, because ground-up legislation simply isn’t going to cut it. Here’s looking at you, Congress.
