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 that when individuals try to protect their privacy by shooting down a recreational drone, they are charged for criminal misconduct, as was the case with William Meredith (Ragatzki, 2017). A drone was flying over his backyard and only disappeared for a while when his daughter saw it, which prompted him to shoot it down. He was trying to protect his privacy since he was not sure of the reasons for its presence and as such, his prosecution was unfair. Property owners should be allowed to shoot down recreational drones especially because it is unclear why they are flying over their private property.
Second, there is the issue of trespassing because drones are flying over private property without permission from the owner. According to Custers (2016), the use of recreational drones can lead to a lawsuit for trespassing which is a civil case and in the U.S., one does not need to demonstrate that there was any loss or damage of properties as a result. Drones usually fly over private property without the owners' consent, which is a disruption on its own, and as such, their entry into private space can be termed as trespassing. Drones flying over land that is legally possessed by someone cause interference on the enjoyment of personal space. Having a drone pass over private property can be disturbing because the owner will always wonder whether it poses a danger to them and will obviously question the intentions of the drone owner. With the high rise of terrorism, it is possible that the presence of a drone in one’s property will not be welcomed by any means, and any action of entry, in this case, will constitute trespassing. The use of drones has been questioned and associated with terrorism, and one of such incident involved a vlogger who was arrested and questioned for hours by police and eventually had to prove that he was not a terrorist before they let him go (Lowbridge, 2015). If the use of a drone has been associated with terrorism, why shouldn’t a property owner worry of the same and protect themselves by limiting trespassers over their land? This is why there are torts available in every jurisdiction in the U.S. to ensure that people are able to protect the land they possess from intruders (Farber, 2017). While the law provides navigable airspace for aviation, courts can decide the proximity of a drown flying over private property to determine whether it qualifies as trespassing.
Third, flying a recreational drone over private property is a safety concern that should not be ignored. People have willingly admitted to flying a drone carelessly and without the right training in the past, claiming that drones have fallen and could easily injure people if they fell on them (Lowbridge, 2015). This poses a safety concern for private property owners who have no means of establishing whether the people flying those drones are trained or not. Further, it has been noted that private property owners are constantly worried about their safety, especially if drones are flying over more than often and at close proximity (Carlton, 2018). Such worries are warranted giv...