When you play the game of drones, you win or you routinely get spied on by tiny, flying robots.
The U.S. Air Marshal Service has experimented with using drones, unmanned aerial vehicles, for domestic surveillance, according to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union.
In 2004 and 2005, the U.S. Marshals experimented with drone technology, but the experiment ended in failure when the drones crashed. The ACLU documents offer the first official glimpse into the program.
Nonetheless, the Marshals haven’t been open to giving out details about their experiment. Of the 30 pages they had on the program, only two were given to the ACLU — and even those were heavily redacted.
Little is given about the nature of the program — when drones can be used, how they can be used, how they can’t be used, etc. — other than the machines’ role in providing surveillance during tactical operations.
Maybe the Marshals understood how domestic drones are being perceived by the American public.
A June 2012 poll by Monmouth University found that while 80 percent of Americans supported the use of drones for search-and-rescue missions and 67 percent support their use for tracking criminals, only 23 percent want drones to be used for routine matters such as speeding tickets.
Citizens are worried about the threat drones pose to their privacy if the machines became a routinely used technology. In fact, only 15 percent of respondents had no privacy concerns when it came to drones.
The Seattle Police Department terminated its drone program last month, promising to send its equipment back to the manufacturers after public outcry at a city council meeting. Both houses of the Virginia Legislature passed bills putting a two-year moratorium on the use of drones by law enforcement or regulatory agencies. Montana even has a bill that would make evidence acquired from a drone inadmissible in court.
If Americans are already at least a little concerned about domestic drones, how fearful will they be once drones become more common and more sophisticated?
Last year, Congress required the Federal Aviation Administration to loosen regulations and open air space for drones by 2015, so Americans should expect the machines to play a larger role in upcoming years.
The National Geographic’s John Horgan even detailed this year that the Air Force is creating “micro air vehicles,” tiny drones the size of bugs.
I can’t see the American public reacting favorably to that when we already are having trouble with the ones we can identify. A swarm of bug-sized robot spies sounds a little too Orwellian for me.
However, it’s possible to reach a middle ground without banning drones altogether. Drone programs can be transparent and laws designed to protect peoples’ privacy can be passed.
A bill in Florida that would require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before deploying drones is moving through the state legislature.
A similar bill has been introduced to the House of Representatives by Representatives Ted Poe, R-Texas, and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.
Regulations such as these instill trust in the people that the government’s new toys aren’t being abused.
Law enforcement agencies can similarly make more efforts to educate citizens about their drone policies and to ensure that the drones do not violate people’s privacy.
Drones aren’t scary in and of themselves. However, the secrecy that exists behind their policies and the lax protections afforded to the public make them concerning to many Americans.
If law enforcement and the government make more efforts to ensure privacy is protected, then maybe we can remove the stigma surrounding the technology.
And we humans can rest easy.
