Eaves, Lucas. “5 Reasons Why U.S. Isn’t Ready for Public Drone Use.” IVNus. N.p., 08 May 2013. Web. 11 Aug. 2015. <http://ivn.us/2013/05/08/5-reasons-why-u-s-is-not-ready-for-domestic-drone-use/>.
In this article, Eaves discusses five reasons as to why the United States isn’t ready for everyday people using drones. The reasons are sound. There is risk of abuse from using drones in a public setting that is controlled by either the local police or your average Joe. Privacy can be invaded and therefore is an issue since people have the right to privacy. Then as it is used in a public setting, it could be hazardous to the public if abused and used incorrectly. Followed by the legal framework that surrounds public drone use; there isn’t much of one. Lastly, the public perception of drones is not so great. With all that has happened like learning that the NSA spies on the public, people do not trust that drones can be used correctly by the local government and other people. By taking a few of these into consideration it is reasonable to agree that the U.S. isn’t ready for public drone use.
Yes, there is a lack of legal framework around drones and they can be used to invade other’s privacy. However, it is possible to create that legal framework. Once the framework is made then there is less likely to be problems with the public use of drone. There are already a number of rules and laws that accompany our everyday products from cell phones and cars so what would be so difficult to create them for drones. As far as invasion of privacy goes, drones don’t make that issue worse or better. People can easily invade your property and record you on their phones and then do with the footage as they wish. There are laws and rules against this but people do it anyways. Same would go for drones but it is not possible to stop everyone from breaking rules and laws.
I do not entirely agree that drones can be dangerous to the public. Anything and everything is a threat to public safety. Especially people themselves since they can go on a rampage and beat/kill others with their hands and anything they can get their hands on. Eaves makes a comparison between a pressure cooker bomb and drones. This is a false analogy since drones that are sold to the public aren’t fitted with weapons and are usually small. If any tampering is done to the drone it is likely to malfunction. In addition, at that point the drone can not be considered a drone, it is now an actual weapon with the intent to harm.
Despite this in the end I still believe that drones and the way they are used shouldn’t be banned or criminalized. There are pros and cons to the use of drones by the public but everything can be addressed correctly. Also, people can be taught what should and shouldn’t be done when using drones. So let them fly!
I find this argument interesting as it his a true current debate within the united states that has drifted quietly away from the media and publics attention. Although, drones for public and non public use do bring a number a questions to the table to be answered that address concerns, overall drones by the pubic use are not necessarily “weapons”. With laws implicated limits and such, which would likely happen to regulate drone usage, I think privacy and fear issues will not be an overall problem.
Personally I don’t believe that drones should be kept off limits to the public. If the government can have them why cant we? If drones are suppressed, this is another instance of the government withholding something valuable from the public. To be honest I really don’t know what a regular person would do with a drone, hopefully not anything dangerous.