Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as “drones” are aerial systems that can be used by military, civilian purposes like police, academics, research institutes, hobbyist and entertainment & commercial etc. Drones are usually equipped with a camera and can also be armed with missiles. When listening to the news of the U. S. presence in the Middle East, you will frequently hear information concerning drone attacks and drone reconnaissance. The government has been developing and using drone technology in its warfare. We may hear about missile attacks on terrorist led by Drones.
In warfare, the presence of Drone technology is greatly increasing. No longer are drones simply gathering information, they are actually beginning to operate in combat. With this new form of technology quickly developing, companies have begun to see their opportunities and seize them. They are not only developing their own products for war but now for society. Drones are vehicles that do not need a person within to operate. These drones may be controlled in several different ways. A drone can be controlled in a remote location where they decide the actions of it.
Currently most UAV’s are controlled from a remote location rather than by some complex algorithm or pattern. With these types of control, drone technology is beginning to be used in wide ranges of products developed by companies. Already society has begun to be familiar with this fairly new technology. Cars already have the technology to Parallel Park themselves, a challenge that many people cannot accomplish by themselves. Cars even will even notify you if while you are driving, you accidentally drive outside of your lane’s lines.
This remarkable technology is becoming more developed than most believe. According to The Washington Times, companies that used to help develop technology for the government, are getting ready to begin recreate this technology for actual businesses. With this development quickly making its way to the public, an almost endless list of possibilities can be made. Not only will people have drone technology but also more businesses will undertake further development of this technology allowing the community to gain even more knowledge in this field. Soon everything we own will be drone technology.
With the ever growing presence of drone technology, society has already begun to experience several valuable benefits. A perfect example of these benefits that society will experience is the relation of drone technology with cars. With the increasing development of technology in cars we begin to see amazing results inside cars. Not only can cars automatically brake for you, cars are currently now able to actually drive themselves. The well-known search engine company Google, now has several driverless modified Toyota Prius (Prius) cars. These Toyota Prius are equipped with technology allowing them to weave even through some difficult roads.
In fact, according to some sources, the driverless Toyota Prius was able to successfully drive through Lombard Street, a San Francisco street with extremely tight turns and steep hills, without any accidents. With this new development of cars, the safety of others will drastically increase. Consider someone intoxicated, because of their decreased mobility skills, if these individuals were to drive a car they would not only put themselves at risk but many others. However with a driverless car, the danger can be eliminated because the intoxicated individual no longer must drive, improving the safety of others.
Not only can these automated cars be used for intoxicated personnel, but they may also be used to reduce the risk of people falling asleep at the wheel and getting into an accident. As driverless cars become more prominent in our society, safety will most likely begin to increase for all those on the road and accidents may be greatly reduced. But of course this increased safety is solely dependent upon the drone technology’s ability to perform without mistakes, which will be quite possible very soon. In addition to drone technology improving driving conditions, it can also help benefit society in several other fields.
Drones can perform tasks in situations that are too dangerous for humans. Such situations could be helping firefighters that physically cannot enter an area or cannot enter a building due to the danger of the fire. Another similar situation, which is growing extremely popular, is allowing drones to collect weather data in dangerous weather systems like a hurricane. Recently, NASA sent a drone towards tropical depression Nadine (TD14) in order to study it. This drone was able to study Nadine extremely high in the air being able to avoid the storm completely while still having enough power to study the entire storm.
Soon we will reach even greater technology that will help our understanding in several different storms systems. Drones have also benefited the environment in several other areas. Drones are currently being used to help monitor the major problem of forest fires. Drones are also being used to help detect poachers enabling further protection for rhinos and elephants. Not only are drones being used to protect animals but they are also being used to actually study them. By having an aerial view, orangutan populations and nests can be monitored by drones. Some scientists have even begun to speculate on using drones equipped with thermal seeking echnology to study pythons.
The list of benefits that drones could provide to society could go on forever. As this technology continues to rapidly develop so will the countless amounts of benefits that society will enjoy. With this increasing presence and usage of drones, a major concern is developing. Many people consider this advancement in technology as quite controversial. Many people believe that with drone technology in the government’s hand, we will begin to lose our privacy. With no restrictions on drones, governments have the power to monitor its citizens invading precious privacy.
Without any restrictions on drone technology, it can be expected that you will no longer have any privacy In response to the lack of restrictions on the U. S. Government and other individuals, “U. S. Representative Cynthia Lummis joined 22 of her colleagues in introducing H. R. 6199, the Preserving American Privacy Act, which is designed to protect individual citizen’s privacy from the increasing domestic use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)”. The Preserving American Privacy Act would protect an individual citizen’s privacy through several ways.
The act would “prohibit the FAA from issuing a drone permit for law enforcement or surveillance purposes unless the activity is pursuant to a warrant and in the investigation of a felony”. The FAA would also be prohibited in issuing a permit “to any private individual for person or property surveillance unless the person under surveillance has consented or the owner of the property has consented”. The bill goes further into limiting the power of the government by stating that any evidence that drones have acquired cannot be used by “federal agencies in administrative hearings”.
Along with these privacy concerns, there are also great areas of concern in the subject of security and drones. Drones run the risk of becoming hacked therefore making them possible security risks. As per recent news on National Public Radio, somebody hacked a drone so that it can fly the way we wanted. This is called a method of “spoofing”. Spoofing is basically matching the signal of the official controller and then increasing the strength of your signal allowing you to gain control. It is not as simple as it sounds, but it is still very possible for someone to do.
Recommendations: These recommendations are for private drone users.. Drone users must get a permit from Local Authorities • Local Authorities should perform a background checks before issuing permit. The person should be 18 years old with a good moral & ethical conduct. • All private drone users must abide Federal Aviation Authorities rules & regulations • Drones should have a uniquely identifiable number. • Local authorities must assess registered users mental state of mind before issuing the permit. • Drone permit should be valid for one year & after that user should renew the license.
During the registration, drone users must submit a notarized document explaining the intended use of the drone. • Local authorities should reserve the right to revoke drone license without any notice or an explanation. • Authorities should maintain the zero tolerance policy, if body brake the rules they should be barred from getting license at least for 10 years and with some legal implications. • Drones should not be used in residential areas as it poses a great threat to privacy.
Conclusion: The increasing presence of drone technology in today’s society is quite evident. We hear on the news quite frequently of a drone bombing or spying on someone in the war. Not only do we hear about what drones do, we experience the benefits that they provide for us. When we listen to the weather there is a possibly the information is received from an actual drone. Despite the many different types of benefits drones present, drones still present a very serious security and privacy risk. In consideration of these both, one must decide whether the privacy and security risks outweigh the benefits.
