Loss of Privacy

When unmanned drones were first introduced, many people thought it was perfectly okay to have such drones, but overseas and for military use. Many others, such as myself, claimed that, while they were being used overseas at the moment, they would eventually land on our shores and be used against American citizens in the name of security. That day has now arrived.

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The drones look like nothing more than model helicopters. But at 11 pounds and 20 inches long, the unmanned aircraft would be a powerful asset to the city, Bowman said.

In a City Council briefing Tuesday, Bowman said the aircraft are capable of carrying cameras that shoot high-quality still pictures and video and have night-vision capability. The aircraft also have heat-sensing technology the fire department can use.

At the moment, the drones are said to be used for emergency situations such as fires and accidents, but it is sure to be expanded once those capabilities have proven to be effective.

Police say they would operate the aircraft using standard operating procedure for any law-enforcement mission. The unmanned aircraft would not do anything more than a regular helicopter would, they say.

The drones would be able to do more than a regular helicopter simply due to its size. It can go places that a regular helicopter cannot and, therefore, will be invading people’s privacy on a regular basis.

“We are just looking at a vehicle that is a fraction of the cost, that is smaller, that will allow us — in an urban area, where we can’t use the bigger helicopter — to assist with better, more efficient police operations,” Hill said.

And thus the police admit that their aim is to use a helicopter in a small place where regular-sized helicopters cannot go.

Since the first drones were used in Afghanistan several years ago, I’ve been told that they would never be used in the United States. I told everyone who said this, they were wrong. First, they were used on the US-Mexican border. Then, they were tested in Houston. Now, they’re coming to the Miami-Dade police department in another case of what we see in war zones end up being used against citizens.

Miami-Dade is blazing new territory for civilian law enforcement agencies. Cops in Houston have tested UAVs, and a sheriff’s office in Colorado has a drone to look for stranded hikers. But no one has deployed a drone in a large metro area.

What’s not clear is how cops will sort out the raft of thorny privacy questions hovering around plans for using this powerful, new eye in the sky.

“At this point, it doesn’t really matter if you’re against this technology, because it’s coming,” says P. W. Singer, author of Wired for War and an expert on drones. “The precedent that is set in Miami could be huge.”

What is clear, is that the police really do not care about the privacy issues. They see the drones as a means to do their job and they don’t care whose rights are trampled on in the process.

MDPD is keeping the details of its deal with Honeywell quiet. The department didn’t respond to Riptide’s Freedom of Information Act request about the contract, but sources confirm the drone purchased is Honeywell’s T-Hawk.

“All the legal and political and ethical… complications and questions we have to figure out are enormous,” Singer says. “What seemed like science fiction just a few years ago is becoming reality.”

Of course they do not want to respond. They don’t want to speak to the media or the public and they certainly do not want to be held accountable for their actions. The public outcry will just be a complication to them.

We’ve seen their use in the United Kingdom and Venezuela’s airships, why are we accepting these invasions of privacy as something normal in our lives? Given the fact that drones can see through walls, how safe are American citizens going to feel once these become widespread? We need to force local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to be accountable. We cannot let drones become commonplace in our lives and accept invasions of privacy as normal. I, for one, enjoy the privacy I have at home and do not wish to have drones surveilling my every move.

I hope I’m dead by the time these guys take over the world.

UK police are planning on using unmanned spy drones to patrol the British skies in an effort to track more crime. The same type of drones that were used in Afghanistan will now be used to catch fly-tippers and anti-social drivers.

Documents from the South Coast Partnership, a Home Office-backed project in which Kent police and others are developing a national drone plan with BAE, have been obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act.

They reveal the partnership intends to begin using the drones in time for the 2012 Olympics. They also indicate that police claims that the technology will be used for maritime surveillance fall well short of their intended use – which could span a range of police activity – and that officers have talked about selling the surveillance data to private companies. A prototype drone equipped with high-powered cameras and sensors is set to take to the skies for test flights later this year.

The drones have failed to find Osama bin Laden, but it’s good to know that they can find fly-tippers and anti-social drivers. You absolutely would never be able to find the latter two without regular police work. If these are the same type of drones that the Taliban snooped upon, it will be interesting, and entertaining, to see what happens with drones used on the British yobs.

The UK has been floating the idea of using drones to control society since, at least, 2007 in an effect to stir up fear so that, when they are mass produced, the general public will want them. Remember, whenever you spend money on gadgets instead of real people to walk the streets, crime will only get worse.