There has been much talk about the use of drones by police within the United States and by the military abroad, but a subject that gets a lot less play is the use of drones at the US border. As someone who lives near the border, in sunny Los Angeles, I’m ready for a thorough debate. As a city dweller, I find myself with some unlikely bedfellows, too, because a recent Associated Press video showed cattle ranchers at the border are sick of having government cameras on their land and drones flying over their ranches attempting to find illegal immigrants.
In a country where politicians harp constantly on the need to keep “illegals” out, a cool new toy is hard for them to deny. Border patrol agents have Predator drones at their disposal, and using them has the potential to become a serious breach of privacy—but it also could be a terrific tool for other needs, if it’s done right.
I’ve been writing about drones and surveillance for years, and I’ve discussed these topics with some of the nation’s top experts. When it comes to giving federal agencies like the US Customs and Border Protection some Predator drones for surveillance, one major concern is “mission creep.” That’s when a federal agency decides to loan its drones to a state or local agency to assist with some objective, as seen in North Dakota when the border patrol loaned a Predator B to a sheriff to help him wrangle a few missing cows. It is clear they will lend the drones only to those truly in dire straits. Drones and cattle are becoming inextricably tied.
...Drones can be equipped with “facial recognition technology, live-feed video cameras, thermal imaging, fake cell phone towers to intercept phone calls, texts and GPS locations, as well as backend software tools like license plate recognition, GPS tracking, and facial recognition,” as the Electronic Frontier Foundation notes. And we’ve seen these technologies used by government agencies in similar situations, like when the US Marshals Service used Stingray cell phone surveillance equipment in small planes to capture everyone’s metadata on the ground below. That’s a little concerning, to put it mildly.
...Congress should draw up border drone legislation to protect privacy. To keep drones meant for the border from doing surveillance operations well beyond their intended purpose, we need regulations to prevents mission creep. I do not want to be driving down the highway in Los Angeles and see a CBP Predator drone flying over, attempting to locate some guy who stole candy from a convenience store. Fourteen states have passed laws regulating how police can use drones, and others are considering similar legislation. It only seems right that agencies be restricted to using drones they own, so such laws are not circumvented in any way. Ryan Calo, an assistant professor of law at the University of Washington who has done extensive research on drone technology, recently confirmed for me that this is a top priorities. Here’s what that legislation should do...
No comments:
Post a Comment