Carefully study the news article below on the
use of a new technology, unmanned airplanes, or “drones.” These drones have been used by the US
government overseas to spy on other countries, and to launch missile attacks. The drones can capture very precise, detailed
images of the surface of the earth from very high distances. They can perhaps see what you are doing right
now. There is a debate going on right now over whether we should allow the use of
these drones in the US, perhaps to help police track down criminals or for
other purposes.
Your task:
Make two lists:
1. List the reasons mentioned in the article for
why we should use drones
2. List the reasons mentioned in the article for
why we should not use drones
Summarize each reason clearly, in your own
words, if necessary. Ask yourself if you
can identify these reasons as Kantian, Utilitarian, or Aristotelian. Ask yourself, “Does this sound like something
Kant would say?” etc.
1. Reasons we should use drones
2. Reasons we should not use drones
Domestic drones: Coming soon over a home near
you?
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/15/9476623-domestic-drones-coming-soon-over-a-home-near-you
By
Sylvia Wood, msnbc.com
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is
preparing new rules that could make it easier for law enforcement agencies to
use drone aircraft in the U.S., raising concerns about privacy at a time
when the aircraft are already conducting surveillance missions in some parts of
the country.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
released a report Thursday demanding better protections against a
surveillance society, “in which our every move is monitored, tracked, recorded
and scrutinized by the authorities.”
“Our privacy laws are not strong enough to ensure
that the new technology will be used responsibly and consistently with
democratic values,” warns the ACLU report, “Protecting Privacy From Aerial Surveillance:
Recommendations for Government Use of Drone Aircraft.”
The report follows a weekend story by the Los Angeles Timesthat
detailed how the unmanned aircraft are being used in domestic law enforcement
cases, and not just along the country’s borders to track illegal immigrants and
drug smugglers as was originally authorized by Congress in 2005.
The Times said a North Dakota county sheriff
asked federal authorities to employ a drone for surveillance in a standoff with
three men on a farm June 23, resulting in the first known arrest of U.S.
citizens involving the spy planes in a domestic case.
Since then, the Times said, two unarmed Predators
based at Grand Forks Air Force Base have flown at least two dozen surveillance
flights for local police. The Times reported the FBI and the Drug Enforcement
Administration have also used drones in domestic investigations.
Next month, the FAA is expected to issue proposed
rules that the ACLU warns could expand their use by domestic law
enforcement agencies.
The FAA declined comment for this story but in a
recent fact sheet acknowledged the growing interest by law enforcement in
unmanned aircraft.
“The FAA is working with urban police departments
in major metropolitan areas and national public safety organizations on test
programs involving unmanned aircraft,” the FAA statement said. “The goal is to
help identify the challenges that UAS (umanned aircraft systems) will bring
into this environment and what type of operations law enforcement can safely
perform.”
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has supported expanding the
use of domestic drones along the border with Mexico. In October, the Sheriff’s Department in Montgomery County, north of Houston,
bought a $300,000 ShadowHawkdrone
from Vanguard Defense industries using federal homeland security grant funds.
“It’s an exciting piece of equipment for
us,” Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel of the sheriff’s office told the Houston
Chronicleat the time. “We
envision a lot of its uses primarily in the realm of public safety — looking
at recovery of lost individuals and being able to utilize it for fire issues.”
McDaniel said the aircraft would not be used to
track suspects’ vehicles but may provide surveillance for officers serving
warrants.
M. Ryan Calo, director for privacy and robotics
at the Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society, says widespread
use of drones domestically seems inevitable, particularly since they are an
efficient and cost-effective alternative to helicopter and airplanes.
“Drones
are capable of finding or following a specific person,” he writes in a recent
article in the Stanford Law Review.
“They can fly patterns in search of suspicious activities or hover over a
location in wait. Some are as small as birds or insects, others as big as
blimps. In addition to high-resolution cameras and microphones, drones can be
equipped with thermal imaging and the capacity to intercept wireless
communications.”
In addition to privacy concerns, Calo said,
drones also raise safety and security issues, particularly because they can
crash and their guidance systems can be hacked. He cited the case of the CIA
drone recently lost in Iran. The Christian Science Monitor on Thursdayreported a claim by an Iranian engineer
that the Iranians were able to exploit a navigational weakness in the
drone’s technology to make it land in Iran.
Catherine Crump, the ACLU report’s co-author
and staff attorney with the Speech, Privacy & Technology Project, said the
organization isn’t against the use of all domestic drones but rather wants to
make privacy a central issue as the technology becomes more available.
“We have a clear opportunity to get ahead of
the game,” she said.
Some of the ACLU’s recommendations include not
deploying drones unless there is certainty that they will collect evidence
of a specific crime. If a drone will intrude on reasonable privacy
expectations, a warrant should be required, the ACLU said. The report also
calls for restrictions on retaining images of identifiable people, as well as
an open process for developing policies on how drones will be used.
“Historically, the fact that manned helicopters and airplanes are
expensive has imposed a natural limit on aerial surveillance. But the prospect
of cheap, flying video surveillance cameras will likely open the floodgates,”
said Jay Stanley, the report’s other co-author and senior policy analyst with
the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy & Technology Project.
