The
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed a lawsuit against the Department
of Homeland Security in the U.S. demanding it reveals information about the use
of its drones.
The EFF is
seeking to find out how and why the U.S. department loans out the drones to
other law enforcement agencies in the country.
The EFF said the
U.S. currently uses the drones for border surveillance, but reports have
indicated Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have begun loaning out the drones
to other law enforcement agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management and the
Texas Rangers.
“Drones are a
powerful surveillance tool that can be used to gather extensive data about you
and your activities. The public needs to know more about how and why these
Predator drones are being used to watch U.S. citizens,” Jennifer Lynch, EFF
staff attorney, said in a statement.
The U.S. is a
significant user of military drones - unmanned aerial vehicles. Its arsenal of
drones has increased from less than 50 a decade ago to around 7,000, according
to a report by the New York Times, with Congress sinking nearly $5 billion into
drones in the 2012 budget.
The U.S.
commonly uses drones called the Predator and Reaper, which are remotely piloted
drones that are capable of carrying out air strikes. Recently the New York Times
reported the U.S. had carried out a drone strike on regions in Afghanistan and
Pakistan, allegedly killing a Pakistani Taliban commander.
An opinion piece
in the Times also stated drone strikes in Yemen are adding to the growing hatred
towards the U.S. and spurring people on to join radical militants. CIO
Magazine
More than a
third of Americans worry their privacy will suffer if drones become the latest
police tool for tracking suspected criminals at home, according to an Associated
Press-National Constitution Center poll. The U.S.
government has announced that 30,000 drones would be spying on Americans
domestically. CBS Hundreds of
American Predators and Reapers fly above Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, and
Afghanistan. Nearly 3,000 people have been killed in the U.S. drone campaign.
Wired.com The United
Nations has identified the U.S. as the world's number one user of "targeted
killings" largely due to its drone attacks in Pakistan and
Afghanistan. The CIA and the
U.S. military have used drones to target and kill those Washington describes as
“suspected militants”. In 2008, after
Barack Obama won the presidency in the U.S., the drone strikes escalated and
soon began occurring almost weekly, later nearly daily, and so became a
permanent feature of life for those living in the tribal borderlands of northern
Pakistan. CBS News
AHT/HJ
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