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I don't have a problem with police using unweaponized drones to help them find someone who is lost or there is probable cause to think someone has committed a crime and they are trying to find or track them. I do have a problem with using drones for general surveillance of the general public - just snooping around all over the place - and I definitely don't like the idea of using weaponized drones in non-military situations (and I think they are way overused as assassination devices well away from active combat).
You could get involved with the
ACLU. There are
other groups organized specifically around this issue. Writing and calling your congressperson and senators won't hurt (you will probably get back a canned statement that is pretty much meaningless, but if enough people do contact them it may have some effect).
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Yes, but the more you open the skies to other uses, the easier you make it to facilitate the implementation of those problematic drones.
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Maybe "ban" was the wrong word to use. As pointed out there will be drones used over US skies. The important part is the regulation of how and when they can be used. In Washington State there is H.B. 1771 which is intended to regulate the use of drones but I don't really understand how I can personally support civilian groups working towards this goal.
I realize the discussion could be widened to other surveillance technology but I think that would be best kept to a second thread of discussion. This thread was started with the intention of discovering how to personally impact drone use over US soil.
Again, thank you for helpful comments. Ted may be right about contacting my representatives but I agree that I would probably just get a canned letter back. There has to be a group with teeth to support. Maybe this is why corporations run our government and not citizens. We don't seem to have our own lobby groups.
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The ACLU has been on the forefront of challenging these types of invasion upon the privacy of individual citizens. So you might contact them to see what their activities are pertaining to drones in US skies.
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Ted King wrote:
I don't have a problem with police using unweaponized drones to help them find someone who is lost or there is probable cause to think someone has committed a crime and they are trying to find or track them. I do have a problem with using drones for general surveillance of the general public - just snooping around all over the place - and I definitely don't like the idea of using weaponized drones in non-military situations (and I think they are way overused as assassination devices well away from active combat).
I agree with this. Not unlike red-light cameras: drivers who want to run red lights complain endlessly that it's an invasion of privacy (har har har) or a money-grab. To the latter I'd say it depends on how much or little corruption exists in your locality. The use of drones isn't an inherently bad thing, but they are certainly very prone to misuse.
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Besides the fact that one has a pilot who's actually in the air, what's the difference between police and sheriff helicopters buzzing our neighborhood and drones doing the same thing?
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bfd wrote:
Besides the fact that one has a pilot who's actually in the air, what's the difference between police and sheriff helicopters buzzing our neighborhood and drones doing the same thing?
In principle there isn't much difference if you are talking about unweaponized drones. But in practical terms the difference in cost can make quite a bit of difference. Paying for keeping a large, complicated device like a helicopter in the air has got to be way more than the cost of a keeping a drone aloft (I imagine helicopter pilots cost a fair amount more than a drone pilot as well). Helicopters are so expensive that they are impractical for using for just snooping around, but not so with drones. Because of that cost differential, I think the temptation to overuse drones is much greater than with helicopters.
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bfd wrote:
Besides the fact that one has a pilot who's actually in the air, what's the difference between police and sheriff helicopters buzzing our neighborhood and drones doing the same thing?
The ease with which they could be utilized to violate an individual's rights as protected by the 4th amendment ?
