Last weekend I had my first experience of having a drone
'spy' on me. My friends and I were having an evening campfire in woods near my
home, when--in between slurps of beer--the sound of a weedwhacker grew closer. We
quickly realized no one was weedwhacking in the woods at 11 p.m., but soon
spotted a red beacon hovering about 20 ft. over the tree canopy, where it
stayed for a few minutes before continuing on its way. A pilot had likely
spotted our fire and was curious about what was happening below--overall not
much.
Overall, my first drone experience was pretty benign,
especially considering the nuisance they've created for others recently. One
man shot down a
drone as he alleged it was spying on his sunbathing teenage daughters. Another
hobby drone
derailed a suspect search when it got too close to an LAPD helicopter. On
the flip side, officers in North Dakota might be pursuing suspects with a
drone, now that they've receive permission
to mount tasers, tear gas and other non-lethal weapons on them.
At this point, a new dialogue on drones and privacy needs to
occur. When drones have reached the point where they're sold at local
pharmacies, and also available at steep discounts on sites like Groupon,
they've officially matured from a niche technology to a realized market. Some
predictions expect 30,000
FAA drone licenses to be issued by 2020--and there will likely be many more
people who don't need a license or won't apply for one.
Many states have passed or are reviewing legislation that
would require police to obtain a warrant before using a drone to collect evidence.
The larger threat is likely from private owners who will use their drone to spy
as voyeurs or to access networks, say to steal credit card data or hack
computers. Currently drone tools are limited by weight and power supply, but continuing
innovations will provide more powerful models enabling a better array of
tools-and threats. For example, engineers at the University of California, San
Diego have created
a cloaking device that could make drones invisible.
Are individuals going to be buying drone detectors to
safeguard their homes? Probably not, but a variety of detection
technologies and detector proposals have garnered interest. Audio, visual
and thermal detection technologies would likely be useless in urban landscapes.
Radar has taken some steps forward, but most radar technologies have trouble
identifying drones, including those on the ground or water. It seems radio
frequency detection holds the most promise. Three or more RF detectors identify
all transmitters operating on know drone frequencies and can triangulate drone
position. Alerts are sent to a phone or
computer.
The evil side of drones is of course genuinely about
human-human relationships, not human-technology relationships. I doubt the average person will need to
concerned with UAV invasions, but there will always be someone trying to take
advantage of others.
When the drones come to your door, how welcoming will you
be?
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