Unmanned Drones To Be More Widely Used In The U.S.

By Sam Cashion

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has authorized the wider use of unmanned drones in the U.S, which have already been used to monitor U.S. citizens for several years. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) had to resort to suing the federal government to see who had been approved to use aerial drones. The FAA responded by sending a list of 60 organizations that have been authorized to use unmanned aerial drones within the U.S.

————Representatives Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) have sent a letter to the FAA voicing their concerns for Americans’ privacy rights in response to the previously mentioned FAA approval of organizations to use drones. According to the representatives Markey and Barton a law that was signed by President Obama on February 14 —the FAA Modernization And Reform Act— didn’t deal with the issue of privacy at all when dealing with domestic drone usage.

————Cities and towns that now have drone permits include North Little Rock, Arkansas; Arlington, Texas; Seattle, Washington; Gadsden, Alabama; and Ogden, Utah. Also on the list were many government agencies, and state universities.

Further reading:

“More drones take to the sky, like it or not” from CNET

“What Are They Going to Do With a Drone in Otter Tail County?” from NextGov

“Congress to FAA: Don’t let domestic drones spy on Americans” from NextGov

“Regulating domestic drones on a deadline” from Washington Post Opinions

“Lawmakers question FAA on privacy of drones” from The Hill

“FAA Releases Lists of Drone Certificates—Many Questions Left Unanswered” from the Electronic Frontier Foundation

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