A bill
introduced by Florida State Sen. Joe Negron would severely limit the use of
unmanned flying surveillance drones by police and other law enforcement
agencies.
Negron's
"Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act", Senate Bill 92, would create rules
that would prohibit police from using drones that are capable of taking pictures
and video in most situations.
"I am very opposed to making it a standard
practice for the government to have drones floating in the sky, monitoring the
lawful movements of Florida citizens," Negron told reporters.
"I'm not sure we would know they were being used," Negron said. "A lot of these deployments are made in secrecy, and sometimes people found out they were being monitored months after the fact because this isn't something that's widely advertised."
Under the
provisions of the bill, any evidence originating from drones wouldn't be
admissible in court. Furthermore, it outlines clear guidelines for Floridians to
file civil suits if they feel their privacy has been breached via use of a
drone. Prison Planet
If signed into
law, Negron's bill would take effect in July 2013, before the FAA's new rules
come out. The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups agree with the
senator's concerns. TCPALM.com Negron has been
no stranger to combating privacy concerns. He disagrees with red-light traffic
cameras and dislikes when driver's licenses are swiped to verify voter
eligibility. TCPALM.com The Federal
Aviation Authority has begun allowing police departments across the country to
use remote control aircraft, or drones, and some are starting to. Miami Police
were the first agency in the nation to do so. flaglerlive.com Police in Miami
have been testing drones since 2009, using two 18-pound aircraft, one bought
with a grant from the federal government, but have typically only flown the
drones over the Everglades and below 400 feet. flaglerlive.com The use of
drones by police is generally opposed by the ACLU, which released a report a
year ago calling for limits on their use, and warning that drones may
"profoundly change the character of public life," especially as they become more
sophisticated. The Republican Party also had a line in its platform this year
supporting limits on aerial surveillance, and there have been bills filed at the
federal level to restrict them. flaglerlive.com Drones have a
poor safety record, too. "A review of thousands of pages of unclassified Air
Force investigation reports, obtained by The Washington Post under
public-records requests, shows that drones flying from civilian airports have
been plagued by setbacks. Among the problems repeatedly cited are pilot error,
mechanical failure, software bugs in the "brains" of the aircraft and poor
coordination with civilian air-traffic controllers." The Washington Post
AGB/SM
- Latest News
- Top Hits