National Journal
written by Bob Brewin, Nextgov.com
Sunday April 20, 2012
The Federal Aviation Administration has cleared drone aircraft for widespread use in U.S. domestic airspace, and the chairmen of a congressional privacy caucus want to know how FAA will protect Americans from surveillance by operators of these aircraft, including police departments.
The FAA Modernization and Reform Act, which President Obama signed on Feb. 14, calls for the FAA to integrate operation of drones into its National Airspace System by 2015. The agency in March kicked off a rule-making to set up six unmanned aircraft system test ranges by this summer.
The language in the FAA bill and the rule-making both deal with safety issues and control of unmanned aircraft, but not privacy concerns, an issue the agency should address, Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Joe Barton, R-Texas, cochairmen of the Bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus, said in a letter sent on Thursday to Michael Huerta, acting FAA administrator.
Many drones -- such as those the Defense Department and intelligence agencies use to snoop on enemies -- are designed to carry surveillance equipment, including video cameras, infrared thermal imagers, radar, and wireless network detectors, raising questions about how the privacy of individuals will be safeguarded and how the public will be informed about drone activities, whether by law enforcement, commercial enterprises, or private individuals, Markey and Barton said.
"We must ensure that as drones take flight in domestic airspace, they don't take off without privacy protections for those along their flight path," Markey said in a statement.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation disclosed on Thursday that some 60 organizations, including the military, universities, and even police departments and sheriff offices, already have received limited authorization to operate drones. The revelation was based on documents the group received from the FAA in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed in January. EFF said it also received a list of more than 50 authorizations from the FAA permitting manufacturers to test-fly drones.
Markey and Barton told Huerta they wanted to know:
What privacy protections and public transparency requirements has the FAA built into its current temporary licensing process for drones used in U.S. airspace?
Is the public notified about where and when drones are used, who operates them, what data are collected, how are the data used, how long are they retained, and who has access to that data?
How does the FAA plan to ensure that drone activities under the new law are transparent and individual privacy rights are protected?
How will the FAA determine whether an entity applying to operate a drone will properly address these privacy concerns?
"The potential for invasive surveillance of daily activities with drone technology is high," Markey said. "Standards for informing the public and ensuring safeguards must be put in place now to protect individual privacy. I look forward to the FAA's responses and will monitor this situation as the use of drone technology in our airspace increases."
Barton said that while he knows "the usage of these unmanned aircraft would bring a great benefit to our local and state governments, as well as some businesses," he also has concerns about their misuse. "If used improperly or unethically, drones could endanger privacy, and I want to make sure that risk is taken into consideration," he said.
EFF said domestic drones pose "serious implications for privacy, and the public should have all the information necessary to engage in informed debate over the incorporation of these devices into our daily lives."
***************************************************
The Washington Times
written by By Shaun Waterman
Tuesday February 7, 2012
Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s … a drone, and it’s watching you. That’s what privacy advocates fear from a bill Congress passed this week to make it easier for the government to fly unmanned spy planes in U.S. airspace.
The FAA Reauthorization Act, which President Obama is expected to sign, also orders the Federal Aviation Administration to develop regulations for the testing and licensing of commercial drones by 2015.
Privacy advocates say the measure will lead to widespread use of drones for electronic surveillance by police agencies across the country and eventually by private companies as well.
“There are serious policy questions on the horizon about privacy and surveillance, by both government agencies and commercial entities,” said Steven Aftergood, who heads the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation also is “concerned about the implications for surveillance by government agencies,” said attorney Jennifer Lynch.
The provision in the legislation is the fruit of “a huge push by lawmakers and the defense sector to expand the use of drones” in American airspace, she added.
According to some estimates, the commercial drone market in the United States could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars once the FAA clears their use.
The agency projects that 30,000 drones could be in the nation’s skies by 2020.
The highest-profile use of drones by the United States has been in the CIA’s armed Predator-drone program, which targets al Qaeda terrorist leaders. But the vast majority of U.S. drone missions, even in war zones, are flown for surveillance. Some drones are as small as model aircraft, while others have the wingspan of a full-size jet.
In Afghanistan, the U.S. use of drone surveillance has grown so rapidly that it has created a glut of video material to be analyzed.
The legislation would order the FAA, before the end of the year, to expedite the process through which it authorizes the use of drones by federal, state and local police and other agencies. The FAA currently issues certificates, which can cover multiple flights by more than one aircraft in a particular area, on a case-by-case basis.
The Department of Homeland Security is the only federal agency to discuss openly its use of drones in domestic airspace.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, an agency within the department, operates nine drones, variants of the CIA’s feared Predator. The aircraft, which are flown remotely by a team of 80 fully qualified pilots, are used principally for border and counternarcotics surveillance under four long-term FAA certificates.
Officials say they can be used on a short-term basis for a variety of other public-safety and emergency-management missions if a separate certificate is issued for that mission.
“It’s not all about surveillance,” Mr. Aftergood said.
No comments:
Post a Comment