NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The use of drones in overseas conflicts has been the source of growing controversy over the years, and now, police are using them to hunt down criminals.
In the world of warfare, the drones are guided on combat missions remotely by pilots and computers thousands of miles away. But now, anyone can buy a drone — without the weapons — to fly here at home.
As CBS 2 investigative reporter Tamara Leitner reported Wednesday, that trend has a lot of people worried. The use of domestic drones has raised some serious safety concerns and is said to be a big threat to privacy.
While not as large, civilian drones are nearly as sophisticated, using high-definition cameras and GPS devices.
Some drones can fly as far as three football fields away, recording and streaming video the entire way.
Sameer Parekh of Falkor Systems programmed a drone to follow a T-shirt Leitner was wearing. He could actually see the drone following her.
“As you’re moving around, the camera could see our company logo and then follow you around,” Parekh explained.
Another custom-built drone provided a spectacular view nearly from 200 feet over Brooklyn.
The drones are loud on the ground, but barely detectable to the eye or ear in the sky. That is exactly what has critics worried.
They say it is one thing to fly a drone in an open field and a controlled environment, but even enthusiasts have concerns about one of these machines potentially being abused.
“My concerns relate to safety, because we don’t have the technology right now for drones to fly safely in crowded environments,” Parekh said.
Comments
I believe a nice TED talk comparing the privacy intrusion from all the ordinary devices everyone uses against the one that drones intrude might start changing things. People are sheep. All you need to do is find the leading sheep and change his direction and others will follow.
I have yet to come across someone in person that is worried about drones or their privacy. Only on the internet and in the media do I see this... Its gotta be someone's agenda.
@Jesse I agree. I wonder where this "privacy paranoia" is coming from. Why aren't people paranoid about their phones, their computers, hell even their smartphones could be hacked and used to stream. I think all this stems from the military drone controversy and a link to Obama opponents trying to make out the current US government to seem as if it is some kind of evil conspiracy. These people spread disinformation and play on peoples fears.
What specifically, with regards to privacy, is everyone worried about? Are people afraid a drone might see them having a bbq in their backyard? Does everything thing they're so important that the "government" really wants to waste time and money watching them? Everyone is a bunch of nuts! Drones are always welcomed around me. :-)
I don't understand why a man in a car or a bicycle or behind a bush holding a camera is considered a spy. These people can move in closer distance blend with the crowd and provide photos in such resolution that you can see skin marks. I can't find anything on the net regarding banning people for walking in the streets holding an HD camera. I regret to say that all these accusations is obviously a fixed propaganda against drones but the question is why. I do agree that the technology is not yet safe to fly custom build drones in populated areas as the failsafe in case of a hardware malfunction is still insufficient but this will be improved as time passes by. Sometimes it's good to live in a country that is 50 years behind from modern world :D
Here is a commerical example of "follow me".
I keep seeing the word "privacy" in a lot of these "investigative" reports. There seems to be quite a bit of paranoia concerning the effects of drones on individual privacy and maybe rightly so.
It could come down to restricting where multicopter drones can fly like the way R/C model aircraft are regulated. Here in Ft Lauderdale we cannot fly just anywhere we want to fly. We have two designated flying fields as the area we fly in is under the Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood Internation airport glide path. Also I cannot believe the number of small helicopters that are constantly traversing the glide path. A small multicopter could easily run into one of these small helios if it was being flown outside the flying field area.
Regards,
TCIII