Ryan Calo writes:
On the front page of the Los Angeles Times this weekend was a story about local police calling in military drones — in this case, the Predator B — to help apprehend civilians. Mark my words, this is just the beginning. Drones are simply too effective, too cost efficient, for police, firefighters, and even the private sector to ignore. Imagine what drones would do for the lucrative paparazzi industry, for instance, especially coupled with commercially available facial recognition technology.
Read more on Huffington Post to read why Ryan thinks this might be a good thing, ultimately, for privacy law.
I wish I shared Ryan’s optimism that public response to domestic surveillance drones will be good for privacy law. My fear is that after an initial visceral response and uproar by privacy advocates, people will get used it – just as Londoners have seemingly adjusted to be under almost constant CCTV surveillance.
Visceral moment due to the creepiness factor? Definitely. Boon to privacy law? Probably not. But then, I’m old and cynical….