Public unease on privacy issues spurs call for usage restrictions
Faced with a skeptical public uneasy about the potential impact of drones on personal privacy, three leading law enforcement groups on Friday endorsed industry-backed guidelines limiting the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
It’s the latest move in the drone sector’s ongoing fight against the popular concern that the aircraft represent a new sort of “Big Brother,” capable of looking through windows and flying undetected above American neighborhoods. Police and other law enforcement agencies, already using UAVs on a limited basis, are pushing back hard against that perception.
The Airborne Law Enforcement Association, the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association and the FBI National Academy Associates on Friday joined the International Association of Chiefs of Police in supporting new rules designed to keep police and other agencies from abusing the new powers and capabilities that come with drones, which are now used only by government entities, but will be available for personal and commercial use beginning in 2015. (more on washingtontimes.com)
