CHICAGO, Illinois (PNN) - February 27, 2012 - Dozens of organizations concerned about a cataclysmic loss of privacy for Amerikans are petitioning the federal government to address that issue as thousands - maybe even tens of thousands - of unmanned drones are expected to be put into the air over the Fascist Police States of Amerika (FPSA) in coming years.
“Drones greatly increase the capacity for domestic surveillance. Gigapixel cameras used to outfit drones are among the highest definition cameras available, and can provide real-time video streams at a rate of 10 frames a second. On some drones, operators can track up to 65 different targets across a distance of 65 square miles. Drones may also carry infrared cameras, heat sensors, GPS, (motion) detect(ors), and automated license plate readers,” warns the letter sent to Michael Huerta, acting administrator of the FPSA Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The FAA has been asked by Congress to develop rules over dispatching drones over the heads of consumers all across Amerika.
The letter was signed by officials with the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), World Privacy Forum, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Patient Privacy Rights, Liberty Coalition, Government Accountability Project, Demand Progress, Cyber Privacy Project, Center for National Security Studies, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, and dozens of other groups and individuals supporting the right to privacy; the right to be left alone by government.
EPIC said the petition is urging the FAA to address the privacy threats associated with the use of drones. Congress recently passed legislation requiring the FAA to assess the safety of drones used by commercial and government operators.
The letter asserts, “The privacy threat posed by the deployment of drone aircraft in the (FPSA) is great. The public should be given the opportunity to comment on this development.”
The organizations noted that current rules allow only civil organizations to operate drones, and the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection already has nine flying.
But in 2011, the agency “allowed a local law enforcement unit in North Dakota the use of a drone within the unit’s normal operations. This incident represented the first occasion where drone use resulted in an arrest of an (FPSA) citizen.”
Now the Miami-Dade Police Department has purchased a Honeywell T-hawk drone, the Montgomery County sheriff’s office in Texas bought a ShadowHawk, and drones also are in use by thug cops in South Carolina and Colorado.
“Experts estimate that up to 30,000 new drones could be launched in the (FPSA) in the next decade,” warns the letter.
“Drones are designed to undertake constant, persistent surveillance to a degree that former methods of aerial surveillance were unable to achieve,” the letter continues. “With special capabilities and enhanced equipment, drones are able to conduct far more detailed surveillance, obtaining high-resolution pictures and video, peering inside high-level windows and through solid barriers, such as fences, trees and even walls.”
EPIC reported that drones could fly high enough so that people are unable to see them, so that surveillance is conducted without the target’s knowledge.
While the FPSA Supreme Court unlawfully and arbitrarily decided that individuals generally do not have Fourth Amendment protections regarding aerial surveillance, the technology is causing some to rethink those standards.
In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled in Kyllo v. U.S. that the use of a device that is not in “general public use” is a search even if it does not physically invade the home. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled in U.S. v. Jones that the attachment of a GPS device to a car with the intent of gathering information was a search under the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.
