Contemporary Social Issue Paper (Relating to Informatics)

Contemporary Social Issue Paper
Name
Institution
Contemporary Social Issue Paper
Advancement in technology has facilitated the development of unmanned aircraft or vehicles, commonly referred to as drones. Drones are controlled either autonomously or through the use of a remote control (Wang, Xia, & Yao, 2016), thus the term unmanned or unpiloted. The use of drones by government agencies to investigate offenders through surveillance has been supported and opposed in equal measures and as noted by McNeal (2014), more than 13 States have already introduced laws to control the use of drones by law enforcement. However, it is still unclear on what legislatures are doing to regulate the use of recreational drones, which has increased as drone usage expands to cover areas concerned with surveillance, business, and recreational purposes. The latter has raised debate among people, with proponents claiming that it is their right to own properties, including drones, and as such, they should be allowed to fly them anywhere they want without repercussions. Opponents claim that recreational drones should be shot down whenever they fly over private properties. The legality of either side taking action is not clear, because both their arguments are also protected by the constitution, especially in the developed countries. This begs the question of whether owners of recreational drones, especially those with cameras, should be allowed to fly them over private properties or owners of the properties should be allowed to shoot them down.
Answer to the Question
Property owners should be allowed to shoot down drones that fly over their properties. Drone technology is among the fastest growing technologies globally and as such, the sky will soon fill up with drones. The first reason as to why property owners should be allowed to shoot down drones flying over their properties is because it is an invasion of privacy. In the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is responsible for regulating aviation, does not protect property owners from intrusion by drones (Carlton, 2018), which makes it even worse when recreational drones with cameras are flying over private properties. The fact that the sole purpose of recreational drones is to entertain the owners, it becomes hard to determine what kind of scenery the owner might also find entertaining during their drone flight. Further, despite the various State laws regulating drone flight, none of these laws provide effective and complete protection to property owners from drones. Drones have the ability to capture and record a lot of data and when allowed to fly over private properties (Farber, 2017), they can capture personal information of location and other private information without the property owner’s knowledge and consent. Our homes are the most private places where we are not worried about prying eyes and we should be able to live without fear of surveillance and intrusion. We live in a world where privacy is paramount because, at times, our safety depends on the level of privacy we enjoy. For instance, information about an individual’s routine can put them in danger, yet such information can be acquired easily through the use of a drone. What’s worse is ...