Hm.
Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s … a drone, and it’s watching you. That’s what privacy advocates fear from a bill Congress passed this week to make it easier for the government to fly unmanned spy planes in U.S. airspace.
The FAA Reauthorization Act, which President Obama is expected to sign, also orders the Federal Aviation Administration to develop regulations for the testing and licensing of commercial drones by 2015.
Privacy advocates say the measure will lead to widespread use of drones for electronic surveillance by police agencies across the country and eventually by private companies as well.
“There are serious policy questions on the horizon about privacy and surveillance, by both government agencies and commercial entities,” said Steven Aftergood, who heads the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation also is “concerned about the implications for surveillance by government agencies,” said attorney Jennifer Lynch.
There’s plenty of reason for concern here, and Congress just doesn’t seem up to the task. Having established the precedent that the president can order the death of an American terrorist overseas via drone aircraft, it’s not all that large a leap to conceive of the same thing happening here. And given how the FBI and DHS have categorized threats of late, the slope gets a bit slippery. Google and Facebook both have very deep pockets and a demonstrated history of harboring zero respect for privacy. They’ll find a reason to build their own drone fleets, as will other corporations. Local and state governments will love the new toys, and will find all sorts of uses — legitimate and not — for them. Among other things, drones will become yet another expensive “must have” for the up and coming political police chief. Factor in improved imaging tech that can see through walls and the like, and we all could be living in houses of glass soon enough.
It also says quite a bit about our national priorities, when Congress orders the FAA to expedite drone aircraft approval despite the obvious and less obvious problems, while the administration drags its feet on far more vital issues like the Keystone XL pipeline.
We’re in the very best of hands, is what I’m saying.
As usual, things get left out because these guys simply aren’t good enough to be doing as much as they are doing, and they don’t have the wisdom or time to make the new “common law”. For example–
-what happens when someone, in a clear attempt at harassment, has a drone follow someone around 24/7? Or parks one over their abode on a full time basis. I mean, can’t you see some political group on the left doing that? What then? What is a citizen supposed to do then?
as far as imaging technologies, it is my personal opinion that anything that requires augmentation of the human senses is a search, pure and simple, and should not be allowed if a governmental agency, or able to be used with perpetrators subject to civil action, if private individuals.
Privacy means that I expect that a normal human using normal human senses will not have a view into my activities. The law should reflect that spirit, and not the one that makes it easiest for those with power.
Silly me for thinking the 2010 elections would stop the loss of freedoms. What is Congress preparing for? This is an example of exactly why I remain and unaffilited voter, both parties give up our liberties
Boehner (prnounced Boner) & Co., prostiticians.
“Specializing in selling out American Liberty to the highest bidder.”
“No freedom too small to infringe.”
Our politicians do a wonderful job of validating the “law of unintended consequences.” That is, the original intent of this law when the FAA funding act was first put forward three years ago was to provide a system to keep the U.S. military drones out of airspace usually occupied by commercial and general aviation. As with “military operating areas” the law mandated that DoD work with the FAA to provide a separation system. Why? Because drones are essentially blind to other air traffic, and the military doesn’t want to place tracking devices on them. So now it has morphed into something entirely different. Gee, who would have expected that from our Congress critters? Well, probably, every reader of this blog!!
I can’t tell you how much the idea of a bunch of drones flying about doing God knows what creeps me out.
I fail to see why this is such a problem. Or anyway why it is worse than police helicoptors equipped with night vision. I can see the usefulness of a drone along the border, in areas that cannot be effectively patrolled, or in, for instance urban “No-Go” neighborhoods. But I realize the Lib/anarchist folks don’t like any scrutiny at all.