View full interactive map

Mapbox has made available an interactive map that lets you zoom in and see where in the U.S. that drones are not allowed to fly. Click on image above to explore. Read full BusinessInsider story about the map.

By ELLEN SHEARER
Medill National Security Journalism Initiative

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, for commercial and law enforcement use in the United States is under increased scrutiny as the Federal Aviation Administration moves forward on implementing laws to regulate the technology. But the value of the small, relatively inexpensive surveillance technology has not escaped the notice of another group of potential users – journalists.

At least three journalism schools  are experimenting with small drones to determine their usefulness and practicality in newsgathering and storytelling. In addition, a few news organizations have also put some drones in the air, as did the Occupy protesters to monitor police action. And they are being used by Realtors and other commercial outlets as the FAA deliberates the safety and privacy regulations needed, which is to be completed by 2015 when wide-scale use is anticipated. A Congressional Research Service report estimated that the drone industry will reach about $89 billion in 10 years.

“There are a lot of arguments for why journalists might want to use UAVs to do journalism,” said Matt Waite, a journalism professor and director of the Drone Journalism Lab at the UN-L College of Journalism and Mass Communications.  … (Continue reading story on NationalSecurityZone.org)

               Depiction of drone-resistant city by Asher Kohn. 

“The successful check against the machines is not a daydream but an inevitability, and the quicker more creative solutions are proposed, the more likely such answers can be disseminated widely and kept from the patent-wieldinghands of some offshore-utopian type,” Kohn writes in his report on what he calls “Shura City.” 

The United States’ recent history with drone surveillance and attacks is the spark for Kohn’s thinking. “American jurisprudence is simply not capable of making clear, comforting, adjudications on drones and thesorts of crimes they have been created to deter.”  He calls his proposal “a setting-off point for discussions on proper defense and on what ‘proper defense’ might mean.” 

PopSci has a good summary of Shura’s seven key protective features, from its towers and “windcatchers” to “smart windows.”  And theatlanticcities.com has a takeout on Kohn’s thinking that is well worth a read. 

http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2012/12/06

EFF Staff Attorney Jennifer Lynch: “Drones are a powerful surveillance tool that can be used to gather extensive data about you and your activities. The public needs to know more about how and why these Predator drones are being used to watch U.S. citizens.”

EFF on Wednesday also sued the FAA, claiming it is “foot-dragging” is releasing data about public drone flights.

Full Story | The lawsuit (PDF) | Second suit filed against FAA over drones 

“While individuals can expect substantial protections against warrantless government intrusions into their homes, the Fourth Amendment offers less robust restrictions upon government surveillance occurring in public places and perhaps even less in areas immediately outside the home, such as in driveways or backyards,” the report says. “Concomitantly, as technology advances, the contours of what is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment may adjust as people’s expectations of privacy evolve.”

It concludes:

Currently, there is a vast body of Fourth Amendment law that governs the circumstances in which law enforcement must obtain a warrant before conducting surveillance. However, the sheer sophistication of drone technology and the sensors they can carry may remove drones from this traditional Fourth Amendment framework. Beyond the courts and the Constitution, what role should Congress and the President play in regulating the introduction of drones inside the United States? As the integration of drones for domestic surveillance operations quickly accelerates, these questions and others will be posed to the American people and their political leaders

Photo: Illinois National Guard via Medill Reports.

Wired notes that 12 of the locations are for “Predator and Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles, which can be armed.”

Secrecy News, meantime, cites another report that lists 110 potential drone bases, vs. the 88 in the Public Intelligence report. Here’s that DOD report to Congress. (PDF)

In April, the Electronic Frontier Foundation released a similar map of public and private sector drone operations. 

The report from the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general found:

• Inadequate ground resources in place to support the craft.
• The seven craft have only flown 37% of the projected number of hours — and despite this, two new $18 million aircraft were ordered.
• A multi-million-dollar maintenance funding shortfall that could lead to curtailed missions.
• There is no formal process in place for other agency “stakeholders,” such as the FBI and Department of Defense, to request missions on their behalf and does not have agreements on being reimbursed for the costs of those missions. 

One of the unmanned aircraft used by the border patrol. SOURCE: Inspector general’s report.