Big Brother is Coming to a Sky Near You

Most people know that military grade drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (also widely known as “UAVs”), have been used in war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan to conduct surveillance on targets for over a decade now.

But, few realize that we may be seeing a drone hovering above our neighborhoods soon.

Last week, Congress passed The FAA Reauthorization Act, awaiting signature by President Obama, which orders the Federal Aviation Administration to develop regulations for the testing and licensing of commercial drones by 2015. The authorization was tucked away in the larger law that dealt with the funding and operation of the country’s airports and the FAA, in general.  It was held up when both sides of the aisle bickered over union and labor provisions in the bill.

Conversation surrounding the bill, for the most part, centered on the fact that it was the first time in several years that the FAA was being funded for the long term.  Republicans accused Democrats of allowing union influentials to hold up the $70 billion legislation, which was needed to begin transitioning the U.S. air traffic control system from radar on to GPS.

The really big deal, however, is the fact that it also opens the doors for what could be a historic and unprecedented infringement on civil liberties.

The FAA predicts that there could be 300,000 drones in the air … and very soon.  Interestingly enough, very few news outlets seem interested in this little tidbit of news. We’re looking over our shoulders as we type this. There’s an almost global conspiracy feel to it. Move over black helicopters; here comes silver and silent predator drones.

Privacy advocates are up in arms because even before the government finally realizes how it plans to use the drones, it could be testing the technology by violating citizens’ privacy.

“The legislation does not consider the need to assess the privacy risks of the deployment of drones in US airspace,” privacy rights group Electronic Privacy Information Center warns about the new authorization.

Normally, there is a reasonable expectation of privacy in your home, and other private places that cannot be viewed by the visible eye.  The law requires the government and police to obtain a search warrant from a judge based on evidence before exploring such areas.  However, drones could possibly alleviate the need for a warrant to go in and physically search an area given that some sophisticated versions of the aircraft can view, monitor and record activity inside a home.

Even though the FAA has banned unmanned aircrafts, it has issued hundreds of permits to police, government agencies and a small number of research institutions.  Right now, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection use about 9 drones for border patrol and counternarcotics purposes. EPIC objected when they were used for border control in 2005, noting ”… the use of UAVs gives the federal government a new capability to monitor citizens clandestinely, while the effectiveness of the expensive, crash-prone surveillance planes in border patrol operations has not been proved.”

The EFF isn’t going to sit around waiting for an answer, either. It filed a lawsuit against the FAA asking it to unveil the secret authorizations and explain which groups have been given permits and what they are using them for.  Though many do not know, some police are using drones to track drug dealers, find missing persons and track routine traffic violations.

The issue may soon hit home for many in African American and Hispanic communities that are already heavily monitored and targeted for criminal activity.  Drones can be a powerful weapon when fully unleashed, slashing any and all sorts of privacy and perhaps civil rights along the way.

Drones can assemble a lot of data and carry equipment including live-feed video cameras,  high resolution cameras, infrared cameras, heat sensors and radars that can penetrate walls and track objects from  altitudes above 20,000 feet and monitor targets from nearly 25 miles down, eavesdrop on electronic transmission, crack Wi-fi networks and intercept text messages and cell phones,  and carry weapons such as tasers and bean bags, EFF summarizes on its website.

They’ve been used in commercial context to a limited extent.  Until the FAA shut him down, a Hollywood, California businessman had been running a successful company recently which flew small unmanned drones to capture dramatic overhead views for movies, TV ads, and realtors showing off mansions.  “Instead of hiring a photographer to shoot from a helicopter with a long lens, he uses small drones equipped with high-definition cameras controlled by radio from the ground,” Bloomberg Businessweek recently reported.

Some estimates indicate that the commercial drone market could be worth millions.

There’s a lot of money to be made in the spy business, apparently.

Jeneba Jalloh Ghatt represents small, women, and minority owned business and technology companies at The Ghatt Law Group LLC, the nations’ first communications law firm owned by women and minorities. She's won landmark cases on behalf of her clients which include national civil rights and public interest organizations. In addition to actively authoring several blogs, being a radio show host and sitting on the boards of three non-profits, she is a tech junkie who has been developing online web content since the very early years of the Internet, 1991 to be precise! Follow her on Twitter at @Jenebaspeaks, on her blog, Jenebaspeaks, which covers the intersection of politics and technology or on her Politics of Raising Children blog at The Washington Times Communities section.

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