Jonathan Corrick

Corrick1

Davis
Government 4
10/29/2015

Domestic Drone Issue

Someone might be watching you at this very moment. With new advances in technology
there is a very good chance that someone could be. While growing concerns for ones privacy
increase so does the production of devices that help to invade the privacy that so many want. Not
only do these devices take away our privacy, they also can be dangerous to the general public.
Unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs for short have become very popular amongst the average
American. Almost anyone can buy a UAV for a reasonable price, so it is not shocking to hear that
an eye from the sky is spying on your everyday life. A bill must be passed that restricts the
general public from using UAVs from any and all city limits, limit how drones are used for
surveillance by law enforcement, and require that those who operate any type of UAV must first
go through training on how to use the vehicle.
It is important that we ban the use of UAVs that are controlled by the general public
because they invade peoples privacy and can be a danger to anyone. By the end of this decade
it is estimated that 30,000 drones will occupy national airspace (Eyes in the). Privacy is a major
concern for everyone. The large number of drones that are projected to be in our air space within
the next few years means that our privacy as we know it today could soon be gone. A small
UAV crashed in Pasadena, CA, with debris striking an 11-month-old baby being pushed in a

stroller. The baby suffered a bruised forehead (Domestic drone accidents). To prevent further
incidents such as this we must ban these civilian drones from our city limits. Putting objects into
the air over a populated area will lead to injuries or deaths inevitably. There are still many
concerns about privacy; not from civilian drones but from law enforcement UAVs.
There are amendments and laws that say they protect our privacy but new technology has
found ways around these and now it is in danger by law enforcement as well. We can now be
spied on by law enforcement in so many ways that we basically have lost all of our privacy and
now that it has taken to the sky there is no place to hide. Some drones can eavesdrop on
electronic transmissions and crack Wi-Fi networks and intercept text messages and cell phone
conversations (Hale 124). Anything you say and do can be monitored by a UAV. There is no
privacy or security anymore. A recent survey was conducted that asked U.S. adults if they were
comfortable with domestic drone surveillance. 73% of adults said they were not comfortable
with drone surveillance (Lieberman). The general public does not want this. They do not want
to be watched 24/7 and it is not right to make people feel like they are not safe within their own
homes. You are unsafe outside of your home as well while people with no training continue to
operate UAVs.
There are hundreds of incidents yearly that involve UAVs and the number of these
incidents will continue to rise if untrained pilots continue to operate drones. The very few UAV
laws that do exist are often broken do to careless and untrained operators. In a majority of the
cases in which a drone posed a potential danger to manned air traffic, it was flying several times
higher than the legal maximum altitude for civilian drone flights (College). Untrained UAV
operators are unaware of the safety concerns that their drone possesses. It is important that
people are trained so that we can eliminate the likelihood of any manned to unmanned aircraft

contact. Currently, there are no FAA guidelines as to what kind of training is required for drone
flight (Domestic Drones: Technical). The FAA has not required and will not require anyone to
be trained to operate a civilian UAV until a law is passed. Until then incidents will continue to
happen involving drones. With all the concerns with privacy and safety there are still some
people who believe there is no need for any UAV restrictions.
It is argued that UAV surveillance does not need restrictions because it only helps to
prevent crimes before they happen. It is also argued that the general public does not need to be
trained before operating a civilian UAV because it holds many of the same properties as a
civilian UGV (unmanned ground vehicle) which does not require any training before operating.
Advances in surveillance and optics technology have made it possible to detect very small
objects from high altitudes. Stealth technology enables drones to hover above us silently
monitoring everything we do in areas exposed to the sky (Molko). Every second of everyday we
could be monitored by drones. We have become striped of our privacy and no longer have any
secrets. Drone surveillance should only occur when viable evidence is present and a warrant is
given. A small camera-equipped drone, operated by an inexperienced pilot, crashed into a New
York City sidewalk, narrowly missing a businessman who was heading home from work back in
2014 (Goyette). As a UAV and a UGV do share common traits, a UAV has a greater chance of
becoming dangerous when it begins to malfunction or abruptly shuts down. It is also more likely
that a person will not see the UAV falling from the sky verses a UGV driving toward them. It is
important that we know what safety and privacy issues drones can cause.
With the evidence given it should be made clear why we must restrict the general public
from using UAVs from any and all city limits, limit how drones are used for surveillance by law
enforcement, and require that those who operate any type of UAV must first go through training

on how to use the vehicle. The safety and privacy of us all is important to keep secure and to not
allow anyone to infringe on. We must take charge of this growing issue before it becomes too
large to handle. We must pass laws that protect us and our everyday lives.

Work Cited
Book
Hale, Nate. "Unmanned Aerial Vehicles." Espionage and Intelligence. Detroit:
Greenhaven, 2012. 124. Print.
Web
Molko, Robert. "The Drones Are Coming!" The Drones Are Coming! (n.d.):
Brooklaw.edu. Western State College of Law, 30 Mar. 2013. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.
http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/blr/vol78/iss4/3/
Goyette, Braden. "Small Drone Crashes Into New York City Sidewalk.
" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 2 Nov. 2014. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.
"Domestic Drone Accidents." Democratandchronicle.com. Democrat & Chronicle,
26 Dec. 2013. Web. 18 Sept. 2015.
Domestic Drones: Technical and Policy Issues (2013): Domestic Drones: Technical
and Policy Issues. University of Washington, 2013. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.
http://www.law.washington.edu/clinics/technology/reports/droneslawandpolicy.pdf
College, Bard. "Drone Sightings and Near Misses." Center for the Study of the Drone. Center for
the Study of the Drone, 2015. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.
http://dronecenter.bard.edu/drone-sightings-and-near-misses/
Lieberman, Joel D. "Aerial Drones, Domestic Surveillance." ASEE Prism 14.2 (2004): 44.
Unlv.edu. University of Nevada, July 2014. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.
http://www.unlv.edu/sites/default/files/page_files/27/CCJP-AerialDrones-2014.pdf
"Eyes in the Sky." Farber Bio: Luc.edu. Loyola University Chicago, 2015. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.
http://www.luc.edu/media/lucedu/law/conlawcolloquium/farber.pdf