Drones and Privacy – Global Concern

Drones and Privacy – Global Concern

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15548547_m featureUnmanned systems event 2014 – This is becoming an international problem. The use of drones for domestic security purposes, surveillance of citizens, and putative criminals and organizations raises many legal and ethical concerns particularly with regard to the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Council of Europe instruments, and the EU Data Protection Framework, according to a research paper published in the International Journal of Liability and Scientific Enquiry.

According to Homeland Security News Wire Gregory Voss of the Toulouse Business School (TBS), at Toulouse University, in France, suggests that the rise of drones for surveillance and other applications highlights particular challenges to civil liberties and tensions between these and national security and justice concerns.

The fact that they may be operated without personnel onboard allows them to be used when conventional aerial surveillance is too costly, or for long periods of time where personnel fatigue is an issue,” explains Voss.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

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These unmanned flying machines can also be much smaller than conventional aircraft and so less expensive and less obtrusive. Voss points out that the drones currently deployed in active military zones may soon need to be put to new use on their return to the United States and elsewhere once active military service is complete. He also adds that the domestic use of drones is very likely to be spurred on by industry.

The use of images and other data from drones for security purposes has not yet been the subject of specific legal provisions. However, existing legal principles must be complied with in order to allow this use,” says Voss. European Union law has provision only for the data once it has been obtained not regarding how it is obtained. U.S. law focuses on government intrusion but there are also constitutional guarantees regarding how data is obtained, leaving this up to member state law, and whether it is admissible as evidence in a criminal court.

In the aftermath of the National Security Agency (NSA) “PRISM” revelations and subsequent scandal, however, the emergence of drones and their privacy implications may give new impetus to the adoption of privacy legislation at the Federal level in the United States.