Drones and privacy

With civilian unmanned surveillance drones now capable of listening in on cell phone conversations, monitoring Wi-Fi traffic, seeing into backyards and windows not visible from the street, and tracking a person’s movement privacy advocates are concerned that the rapid advances in technology could violate privacy rights.

The speedy pace of technological advancement has far outdistanced the legal framework regulating it and John Villasenor of Scientific American argues that future legal battles will be complex and drawn out.

He writes, “Privacy rights are a complex and evolving patchwork” with contradictory rulings. For instance in 1986 the Supreme Court ruled that the use of a private plane by law enforcement agents to find otherwise hidden marijuana plants was not a violation of Fourth Amendment rights because they were viewed from “public navigable space.”

While this may be the case, Villasenor said, “drone-based surveillance that is sustained, extensive or systematic enough will at some point almost certainly run afoul of privacy rights, although determining when that point is reached will not be easy.”

Current privacy rights are not protected by a clearly defined law, but instead a patchwork of constitutional amendments.

Villasenor said the legal battles will likely rage on for quite some time. Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration is developing new policies to govern the use of small unmanned aerial vehicles in civilian space.