NEW YORK—Two weeks ago, after Eva-Lee Baird, 74, marched in the peace contingent of the Veterans Day Parade in New York City, an old friend sent her a picture dating back almost 50 years. It was her younger self pushing a stroller in a 1965 peace march. The photograph brought back memories—as if Baird’s life had come full circle.
When Baird, a Manhattanite, retired from teaching art at public schools in 2005, she decided to take her interest in activism to a new level. If the peace marches taught her anything, it was that they had to be done, however “difficult and hopeless and useless” they seemed.
Together with some 30 retired New York women, she formed the Granny Peace Brigade. In a sense, the group returned her to the fundamentals of her youth activism, as the first issue they took on was criticizing the U.S.’s foreign military presence they deemed unnecessary, such as military bases in South America.
But the scope developed over the years, and the group started to get increasingly concerned about drones. The unmanned aircraft are so new that regulations to protect the public have not yet had a chance to develop.
Last year the Guardian newspaper reported that air strikes in Afghanistan using drones caused 10 times more civilian causalities than regular air strikes. The news contradicted President Barack Obama’s assertion that drones were precise tools. The Guardian cited a researcher with the Center for Naval Analyses, a research group with ties to the U.S. military.
Moreover, U.S. Customs and Border Protection uses the same drones, though unarmed, to patrol domestic borders. The agency also lends the drones to states for law enforcement missions.
With law enforcement agencies increasingly moving in the direction of using the technology, Baird asked herself a simple question: What prevents the public, or the government here in the United States, from mounting guns or spying equipment on drones?
The answer is anything but simple.
Safe to Fly?
Flying killer spying machines? It’s fair to ask who is allowed to fly drones.
Flying for recreation or as a hobby is allowed, according to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Modernization and Reform Act passed by Congress in 2012. Anyone can fly a small drone for fun as long as one obeys some safety precautions.
Law enforcement agencies in some 16 states either applied for permission, or have borrowed drones from Customs and Border Protection, according to 2013 data obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Ultimately, the FAA can also issue exemptions for public commercial use of drones. About 120 entities have applied so far, according to the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI).
The public is not allowed to mount guns on its drones, but cameras and microphones are some of the most sought-after features of drones, and these are allowed.
There are no laws, at least at the federal level that would regulate privacy, such as from recording a neighbor’s backyard barbecue, to police using drones to monitor protests.
Some Good News
While some people may fear that swarms of camera-geared drones are about to descend upon us, with police drones even about to inflict bodily harm, there are barriers in place.
The FAA has issued only seven permits for commercial drone use—all to the movie industry where they should be operated on closed sets. A chunk of the 120 applicants are drone makers seeking to legally test their products.
While law enforcement agencies are not banned from arming their drones, it is “strongly discouraged,” according to 2012 recommended guidelines by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. “[P]ublic acceptance of airborne use of force is … doubtful and could result in unnecessary community resistance,” the document states.
