Important Points from chapter pertaining to topic of drones
Social-Technical Solutions (ex. New technologies for new problems like spam filters for email)
Internet
       IoT, Commerce, Crowdsource opinions and funds
             Security of IoT? Are drones IoT?
Some technologies (like texting) can help Developing countries...does drone information collecting help?
Political Activism
      Talking about Drone program (hot topic in elections?)
Government Filtering communications and surveillance of others networked communication (ex. Through various controls on internet in different countries)
Drone Patents [36]
UAVs present unique privacy challenges, due to the manner in which they may collect information .. the ability to gather information dynamically from unique vantage points would appear to distinguish UAV use from other video surveillance cameras ..
1986 - viewing from public air space does not count as search
2001 - view with thermal from public space counts as search
Cause tec was not available to public
U.S. Supreme Court, in United States v. Jones
Tracking device on car on public roadways = search
Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI)
issued an Unmanned Aircraft System Operations Industry 'Code of Conduct.'
No one to enforce
Ryan Calo - 'Cold tecnology embodiment of observation'
Data important to correlate to Smart phones
EPIC has stated that 'because drones possess unparalleled surveillance capabilities, the FAA should assess and prevent privacy risks before drones are further deployed.'
Worried about drone hacking
Drone License
List of things to put on application to do with privacy page 13
Different than manned aircrafts, their sight better than man's quote
Thus ACLU recommends cool restrictions page 13
Referered to some pages those Arein this link
http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/lbrr/archives/cnmcs-plcng/cn29822-eng.pdf
       Criminals, always looking to gain some sort of advantage over their victims, constantly use emerging technologies that others have yet to learned to protect themselves from. As the Internet has grown from a small educational network to a massive global network of 2 billion users [1], cyber criminals stay one step ahead of most users to exploit security flaws in systems.
      Unlike many other technologies, surveillance drones have not been used by criminals for their advantage. Perhaps this is because drones, let alone surveillance drones, don’t offer anything that a criminal could use to their advantage. It may also be that regulations on aircraft are too stringent, and that criminals are not willing to accept the punishment for crimes such as the hacking of a government aircraft [2]. Even the use of small drones can be punished by arrest and heavy fines in certain situations [3].
       That being said, drones are becoming more and more prominent in crime. In the United States, law enforcement agencies have used drones for surveillance to detect crimes, and as a tool to assist operations. One example of drones being used to detect crime is on the border between USA and Mexico to find illegal immigrants crossing the border [4]. Another example is the SWAT team’s use of a drone to locate and arrest a suspected criminal [5]. Both of these unconventional usages of unmanned aircrafts are interesting case studies to examine whether or not drones should be used in law enforcement.
        In 2011, the United states used eight predator drones for Customs and Border patrol. The drones used to protect the border are Predator B Drones, identical to those used in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan but unarmed. Despite the absence of weapons on board, the drones quickly proved their potential for danger in 2006, when an engine was shut off accidentally and the drone plummeted to the ground. It missed a residential area by only 1,000 feet [4].
      Despite this near catastrophic incident, major concerns about the use of drones over the border focus on privacy. Although most U.S. residents are unaffected by these drones in particular, those living along the border between USA and Mexico (a heavily populated area) certainly are. With a surveillance drone flying miles overhead, backyard sunbathers worry that they are losing their privacy. Advocates for drones, however, state that surveillance via planes and helicopters is already used, and citizen’s rights to privacy end when they go outdoors.
      An important factor in determining whether or not the drones are worth the risk of privacy and safety is the effectiveness on the border. Domestic drones have cost the government and estimated $240 million, plus $3,600 and one hour of maintenance per hour of flight [6]. In 2014, the Department of Homeland Security released a report on the use of drones on the border. They concluded that drones are not worth the cost of operation [7].
      In 2011, an American man was arrested with the help of a predator drone for the first time. After refusing to return cows that wondered onto his property, the SWAT team used a Predator Drone to find him and arrest him safely. Robert Bossart, the arrestee, claimed that the use of the drone was illegal. The courts, however, did not agree. In 2012, a U.S. District Judge upheld the use of the drone. Brossart was found guilty of terrorizing police.
Data entry or retrieval errors
    Doesn’t necessarily pertain much to the surveillance side of drones. What happens if the wrong person or locations are fed to the drone and another person is watched? What happens if the person they miss because of wrong data is susceptible to terrorist acts that could have been caught?
    Another form of error to investigate comes with the drone’s reliance on a connection. It continually needs to stay in contact with the radio host controlling it or transmitting commands. What happens if it loses connection, doesn’t know what to do without commands, and crashes into a building with people in it?
Software and Billing Errors
    This section brings up a lot of interesting questions in regards to our technologies.
        Similar to the debates about autonomous vehilcles picking the “lesser of two eveils” in ethical decisons, drones do what you tell them to do. What happens if they are told to strictly stay in one spot but that spot is in the flight path of a passenger plane?
        With software errors think about what could happen if coordinates are entered incorrectly. For example, what if someone wants 37 degrees west but the program doesn’t sanitize 37 to -37 (relative to the meridian)? This drone now would head towards that location and spy in another country or have other unintended consequences. Does the intention justify the mistake? Similarly what if a pilot sees a plane coming towards the drone and the software wrongly interprets to climb x number of feet instead of fly down x number of feet and causes a crash?
Software Engineering
    Much of this section does not appear to be relevant to surveillance drones
    One section that is interesting to think about through the lens of drones is the section about gender.
        The Pew Research Center shows there is much of a gender gap in terms of support of the government’s use of drones. Only about half of women support use of drones while over two-thirds of men do. [21]
Software Warranties and Vendor Liability
    Much of this section doesn’t pertain to surveillance of drones but in more in-depth research of drones could be applied heavily to commercial and private use scenarios.
       Drones and professional ethics are two topics that are closely related. It is no secret that drones are involved in, what some consider, unethical conduct. This unethical conduct can range from surveillance of backyards near the U.S.A. Mexico border to the use of a drone to kill in war. Behind every drone is a large number of professionals who have worked to develop, build, and control it. Each one of these professionals faced a moral dilemma, whether they knew it or not.
       Not all drones are created equal, and as such not all professionals involved in the production or development of drones face severe ethical concerns. However, many drones have cameras attached to them, as well as audio monitoring devices, speakers, etc. Despite the many productive uses that a camera mounted to a drone can have, such as wildlife conservation [26] and search and rescue assistance [27], any camera-equipped drone raises privacy concerns, usually from those who live close to where a drone flies. In addition to privacy concerns, all drones are associated with safety concern. All professionals working with drones must weigh these two ethical concerns with the benefit their drone will have. To analyze whether work on a drone is ethical, professionals may use act utilitarianism.
       Software engineers who work on data collection and drone vision face substantial ethical concerns. In the case of police drones, which are very likely to collect identifying information about people [26], software engineers must consider the crime reduction benefits versus privacy of those that are being monitored. In many cases, the public as shown to be disapproving of surveillance drones, which may help professionals involved recognize the privacy concerns. In Los Angeles outside of the Staples Center stadium, a crowd knocked a drone out of the air, believing it to be a police surveillance drone. Despite the fact the drone was neither owned nor operated by the LAPD [28], LAPD Chief of Police responded by stating "I will not sacrifice public support for a piece of police equipment," [29]. On the other hand, drones have been shown to benefit citizens as well as police. In an active shooter situation in Arlington Texas, the police department used a drone to find the location of the shooter. The information was passed on to the police officers, who used it to find themselves safer positions [29]. There are very clear possible advantages and disadvantages to surveillance drones, all of which software engineers, and anyone else involved professionally with drones, must consider before carrying out their work.
       In addition to privacy concerns associated with drones, there are also safety concerns about the aircraft themselves. Major safety concerns involve collisions in the air and on the ground. Many drones lack anti-collision transponders that are most often installed in piloted planes [30], making them dangerous to fly in an area where any other aircraft may be flying. A more common concern for the safety of drones is collisions with people on the ground. In December of 2015 during a World Cup slalom ski race, a camera drone fell from the air and nearly collided with a skier [31]. Perhaps if the software engineers had programmed the drone to detect when it is failing, and move to a safe area, the drone would have been substantially safer.
This chapter does not have to do with our topic a whole lot. The focus was about how machines will eventually replace people and our topic is about how drones can be used for surveillance. While it is possible, and even likely, that drones will take jobs from people such as delivery truck drivers, photographers, farmers, mailmen, and more, there aren’t a whole lot of surveillance jobs that they will take.
      American Ultra is a comedy about a government mission to kill a sleeper agent, Mike, who does not know that he is one. After Mike is reactivated, he puts up a fight and gives the government a very hard time with their mission, killing government agents and dodging planned attacks on him. When the head of the mission to kill Mike is frustrated in his failed attempts to kill him, he calls another CIA agent to call a drone strike on Mike’s house, where he is hiding.
      The head of the mission makes the decision in an instant. He picks up the phone, calls another agent, and demands that the drone strike be initiated. However Petey, the man in charge of carrying out the drone strike, shows hesitation. He faces the choice of either initiating a drone strike on American soil and killing a US Citizen, or losing his job and being charged with treason, which superior threatens him with earlier in the movie.
       Faced with the high price of rejecting his boss’ orders, Petey begins the drone strike by sending the drone into the air towards Mike’s house. In order to actually fire a missile from the drone, however, eight different people must initiate the strike. As the drone approaches Mike’s house, seven of the eight people controlling the strike approve the attack. Petey, however, sits at his desk watching remotely the view from the Predator drone. In an act of defiance, he slams his computer and does not approve the missile, causing the drone to fly directly over Mike’s house without launching the missile.
      Petey makes a decision at this point in the movie that I believe most people in his situation would make. Ignoring the fact that this is a movie, the situation he is placed in is cut and dry. He can either choose to kill a US citizen on US soil with a drone strike, or he can choose to deny a request from his superior. Although he is threatened with a treason charge, it is likely that, if this event were to happen, he would not be punished for this decision.
      The role of drones in American Ultra shows them as an extremely powerful, destructive, and advantageous weapon of war. The use of the drone would have quickly and succinctly ended the movie with Mike’s death and the success of the government mission. Predator drones are a symbol of a powerful and callous military that will kill remotely without any chance of the target fighting back. American Ultra highlights the power of these drones, and the implications that using them over United States soil could have, especially as a weapon instead of as a surveillance tool.
This documentary follows the wordlwide impact of the U.S.'s drone programs and drone strikes across the globe. "The film reveals the realities of drone warfare-the violation of international law, the loss of life, the far-reaching implications for the communities that live under drones, and blowback the United States faces."
The film focuses mainly on a teenager's death in Pakistan. The film also takes an in-depth look into how the U.S. government and Obama administration decides where, who, and/or how to use the drones in areas across the world. One
interesting angle is the viewpoint of the U.S.'s use of drones violating other countries' laws.
ideas and quotes taken from : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3327442/ , http://www.bravenewfilms.org/unmanned
This film is from the viewpoint of observing the CIA from the outside as the title implies. It revolves mainly around interviews probing about "controversial methods used by the agency after Sept. 11 with interviews with 12 former CIA directors, several operatives, and critics of the CIA."
One of the more interesting interviews is with David Petraeus, the former Director of the CIA and 4-star general in the U.S. Army.
http://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-spymasters---cia-in-the-crosshairs
This film encompasses many similar aspects to Unmanned: America's Drone Wars and The Spymasters: CIA in the Crosshairs bringing in many aspects of the CIA's role in governmental drones and stories like that in Pakistan.
To sum it up best, a critic describes the film as "The film covers diverse and integral ground from the recruitment of young pilots at gaming conventions and the re-definition of "going to war", to the moral stance of engineers behind the technology, the world leaders giving the secret "greenlight" to engage in the biggest targeted killing program in history, and the people willing to stand up against the violations of civil liberties and fight for transparency, accountability and justice."
The recruitment process is a really interesting revelation as well as getting the engineering perspective on the morality of it from the view of ethics like we have learned in class.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3801730/
This film is especially interesting surrounding the topics that we have been discussing and thinking about in class. Much of the movie revolves around decisions on whether or not to launch drones and drone strikes when the people launching them know the risks and casualties involved.
The decisions cover a large amount of scenarios from children entering the landing zone, Citizens from other countries being in the landing zones, and people not feeling able to make the decision.
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/eye-in-the-sky-2016 , http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2057392/
In the Giver Drones are implied to be watching the citizens. The government in Giver watches their citizens to make sure that they are acting properly. The government in the Giver is Orwellian, and dystopian, that is viewed as the villain in the movie. They are seen as controlling their citizens and against freedom. In this movie drones are depicted as tools the government can use to control their citizens through violation of privacy.
Aaron Cross, an operative belonging to a Defense Department black ops program, is assigned to Alaska for a training exercise where he is forced to survive extreme weather and terrain to arrive at a remote cabin which is operated by somebody called Number Three. Due to politics within the CIA and investigations of illegal CIA programs, the program leader of which Aaron Cross and Number Three are assigned, orders everyone associated with the program to be killed so as to protect the next generation of the project [17].
A drone is deployed to kill Aaron and Three. Aaron hears the drone coming and is able to escape in time however Three is killed. The drone is able to track Aaron through an RFiD in his arm and so Aaron removes it and gets a wolf to eat it. The drone kills the wolf and Aaron live [17].
How realistic was this scene? Well the weather was quite stormy so the drone probably should not have been deployed in such weather. It would be hard to fly and very difficult to see the ground from the air. Additionally, Aaron should not have been able to hear the drone. The drone was flying at a high altitude and sound should have been muffled by snow. Finally, drones are very expensive and having two drones deployed to kill only two people requires lots of money, paperwork, and a very good explanation [18].
Military recognizes potential for drones, employs primitive models in WWI. One example is the Sperry Aerial Torpedo.
United States v. Causby - landowners own at least as much of the space above the ground as they can occupy or use in connection with the land. Around 80 feet usually.
First use of stealth surveillance drones used in Vietnam War. One example is the Firebee.
Surveillance by private citizen from public air space does not count as search
case Florida v. Riley, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that since airplanes and helicopters often fly over private property, citizens do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy that their activities will not be observed from the air,"
One of first U.S. Border Patrol drones crashes near residential area
FAA prohibits the use of drones for commercial purposes.
First court case and conviction for use of drones without license.
First International drone conference held in Europe.
First arrest is made on U.S. soil using a drone
FBI director Robert Mueller admits that the United States employs drones as part of the domestic surveillance program. Speaking before a Senate Judiciary Committee, Mueller agrees that still-uncommon drone usage sparks concerns about personal privacy and is “worthy of debate and perhaps legislation down the road." [35]
FAA announces first governmental drone testing site in North Dakota.
Federal Drone Registration (FDR) has drone regulation and licensing for drones over .55 lbs.
Increases intrest from government and military surrounding Microdrones. One example is the AeroVironment Black Widow - 6 inch wingspan.
FAA(Federal Aviation Admission) estimations drone sales to 7 million.