30,000 Domestic Drones to Fill Our Skies, Civil Liberties at Risk

[Eugen Leitl]

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/02/09-6

30,000 Domestic Drones to Fill Our Skies, Civil Liberties at Risk

FAA Act would raise 'very serious privacy issues'

- Common Dreams staff

A bill has passed in the House and Senate this week that would allow the
presence of drones in U.S. civilian airspace. The Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act requires the FAA to alleviate many
current rules on domestic drone authorization. Drones would now be able to
fly in the same airspace as commercial airliners, private planes, and cargo
jets. Up to 30,000 drones could be allowed in U.S. airspace by the end of the
decade.

The Senate passed the bill on Monday, 75-20 and allots $63.4 billion to the
FAA. President Obama is expected to sign it into law.

ACLU, among other civil liberties groups, is expressing grave concern for
civilian privacy, as the legislation does not restrict drone surveillance
activities by police and federal government agencies.

* * *

ACLU states:

    As we explained in our recent report, drone technology is advancing by
leaps and bounds, and there is a lot of pent-up demand for them within the
law enforcement community. But, domestic deployment of unmanned aircraft for
surveillance purposes has largely been blocked so far by the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA), which is rightly concerned about the safety effects of
filling our skies with flying robots (which crash significantly more often
than manned aircraft).[...]

    Unfortunately, nothing in the bill would address the very serious privacy
issues raised by drone aircraft. This bill would push the nation willy-nilly
toward an era of aerial surveillance without any steps to protect the
traditional privacy that Americans have always enjoyed and expected.[...]

    We donbt want to wonder, every time we step out our front door, whether
some eye in the sky is watching our every move. [...]

    Here are details on what the bill would do in terms of drones:

	Require the FAA to simplify and speed up the process by which it
issues permission to government agencies to operate drones. It must do this
within 90 days. The FAA has already been working on a set of proposed
regulations to loosen the rules around drones, reportedly set for release in
the spring of 2012.

	Require the FAA to allow ba government public safety agencyb to
operate any drone weighing 4.4 pounds or less as long as certain conditions
are met (within line of sight, during the day, below 400 feet in altitude,
and only in safe categories of airspace).Nano Hummingbird Surveillance Drone

	Require the FAA to establish a pilot project within six months to
create six test zones for integrating drones binto the national airspace
system.b

	Require the FAA to create a comprehensive plan bto safely accelerate
the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace
system.b bCivilb drones means those operated by the private sector; currently
it is all but impossible for any non-government entity, except for hobbyists,
to get permission to fly drones (for-profit use of drones is banned).
Industry groups and their congressional supporters see this as a potential
area for growth. Congress specifies that the plan must provide for the
integration of drones into the national airspace system bas soon as
practicable, but not later than September 30, 2015.b The FAA has nine months
to create the plan. The FAA is also required to create a b5-year roadmap for
the introductionb of civil drones into the national airspace.

Unfortunately, nothing in the bill would address the very serious privacy
issues raised by drone aircraft. This bill would push the nation willy-nilly
toward an era of aerial surveillance without any steps to protect the
traditional privacy that Americans have always enjoyed and expected.

	Require the FAA to publish a final rule within 18 months after the
comprehensive plan is submitted, bthat will allowb civil operation of small
(under 55 pounds) drones in the national airspace, and a proposed rule for
carrying out the comprehensive plan.

* * *

TPM reports:

    The federal government is also facing a lawsuit from the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, a watchdog group that is asking for the FAA to release
records on the almost-300 agencies that have authorization to operate drones
domestically. Jennifer Lynch, an attorney with the EFF who brought the case,
told TPM that this bill makes their suit even more important. bI think the
fact that Congress is pressuring the FAA to expand its UAS program through
the FAA Reauthorization Act only reinforces the need for these records,b
Lynch said. bItbs important that we learn more about how the federal
government and state and local law enforcement agencies are already using
UASs before we expand their use further. The privacy concerns posed by the
use of drones for domestic surveillance are too great to excuse the FAAbs
lack of transparency on this issue.b

* * *

New York Times provides the following video documenting recent drone
'hummingbird' surveillance technology: