This past Sunday evening, Jeff Bezos CEO of Amazon, went on to CNN's "60 Minutes" and announced that his company is currently researching and developing a service called "Amazon Prime Air". This service aims to "get packages into customers' hands in 30 minutes or less using unmanned aerial vehicles." Any Amazon costumer within 10 miles of one of Amazon's many distribution centers whose order is 5 lbs or less, roughly 86% of items sold, can have their order delivered by drone in 30 minutes or less. Amazon claims this service could arrive 2015 at the earliest, however experts say the exact date could be as late as 2020. An article by Business Insider claims Bezos' "60 Minutes" spot was simply a PR stunt gaining Amazon over 15 minutes of free advertising, a deal valued at over $3 Million on the eve of Cyber Monday. Regardless of the intent behind Amazon's announcement, it can not be denied that drones have once again been thrust into the media spotlight, bringing up several very real concerns concerning the safety of American airspace and the 300 million citizens that live underneath that airspace.
Current concerns include the safety of drones operating in increasingly congested airspace and how these unmanned aircraft will communicate and avoid manned air traffic, worries about terrorists using drones to carryout attacks, and the issues of privacy that comes with tens of thousands of remotely controlled cameras taking to the skies.
Currently the FAA only grants permission for the useof drones by military, law enforcement agencies, universities and local governments. As of right now the FAA does not offer licenses for drones to be used for commercial purposes. Congress has however directed the FAA to come up with a list of regulations for applying for drone licenses by 2015. Non-commercial Drones follow currently are subject to the same operating rules as model aircraft. They must be kept under 400ft altitude, and remain in sight of the operator. As of now there is very little that can be done in preventing an individual strapping an explosive device to a model aircraft and flying it into a building. With the increase in drones that can be flown beyond visuals, the risk of an attack might very well increase and there are currently no solid ways for law enforcement to shoot down or prevent these aircraft from flying near intended targets. Bills currently being drafted call for Drone Licenses where information on the drone operator and their intentions can be collected.
On Monday Sen. Edward Markey, (D-Mass.) issued a statement in response to Amazon's "60 Minutes" announcement. Sen Markey, co-chair of a bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus, has been pushing for legislation that forces the FAA to adopt just such privacy regulations. Sen. Markey stated, "Before drones start delivering packages, we need the FAA to deliver privacy protections for the American public. Convenience should never trump constitutional protections." Sen. Markey introduced a bill in March that would create new rules aimed at "protecting American citizens from domestic drones invading their privacy" as protected by the constitution. Sen. Markey's "drone privacy legislation requires transparency on the domestic use of drones and adds privacy protections that ensure this technology cannot and will not be used to spy on Americans."
Sen. Markey is one of the driving forces behind a bill requiring the FAA to collect information from every commercial drone license applicant. This information would include "who will operate the drone, where the drone will be flown, what kind of data will be collected, and how that data will be used" Commercial drone operators would also have to disclose whether the information collected will be sold to any third party.
Drones have a plethora of potential uses. Whether that includes law enforcement surveillance, or commercial uses such mapping, news gathering, traffic monitoring or now even package delivery, many steps need to be taken by the government to insure the safety of this nation and its citizens. The U.S. defense policy needs to be flexible enough to adapt to this new emerging frontier and only time will tell if the proper security measures will be put into place adequately protecting this great nation from enemies both foreign and domestic.
Sources:
MIT Tech. Review: The World as Free-Fire Zone
Business Insider:The Real Reason Amazon Announced Delivery Drones
The Wall Street Journal: Drone Plan Draws Privacy Concerns
Amazon Prime Air
RT News: How Iran hacked CIA drone
BBC News: Researchers use spoofing to 'hack' into a flying drone
FAA: Unmanned Aircraft
CNET: Amazon 'drones' stir up privacy concerns among lawmakers
Photo Credit:
Amazon Prime Air
I like what Senator Edward Markey said about how drones are a useful tool to drop packages throughout domestic lands but they are intruding on the American people's right to privacy. I agree completely. Drones on domestic soil while there are no invading forces is outright spying on the civilian population. If Iran can hack a CIA drone, that causes some seriously problems both militarily and for the civilian population at risk of terrorism. On the other hand getting a package on Amazon in 30 minutes or less is pretty impressive.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure many could agree with what the Senator said, of course is any one in the US government concerned with American privacy after the NSA/Snowden Leaks? I think these things are a huge concern as to safety and the potential to come of such things. Many Americans don't believe in drone use overseas let alone in the United States. The things don't have the best reputation to begin with when being flown by members of the military (or contractors), even when they're not firing missiles. I really hate to think what some person punching a 9-5 card at daily, weekly job is going to do flying something.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention military drones historically haven't been the most secure things ever, as there are case of multiple countries hacking them such as Iran. What's to prevent one from being hacked and the package being switched with something harmful. Not to mention once they're up in the air flying around under radar how do you differentiate between them? I would think it'd be easy enough for drug dealers, terrorists, or other bad guys with crazy laughs to get some of their own.
It's some cool future stuff but I think the world needs to figure out what to do about military drones before allowing anyone and their brother to fly one.
I actually find this idea of Amazon extremely interesting and entertaining. I do understand that many people are against drones due to security risks, and the right to privacy. At the same time, the government has been spying on citizens for many years way before drones ever came along. I wonder if people realize that there are cameras that can watch you from street lights or that our savvy iPhones track us already where ever we go. I think my main concern is that these drones can take up air space, and it becomes difficult for unmanned aircraft to communicate with man aircraft. Another problem with these Amazon drones that I saw recently on the Colbert Report (you must check it out it's hilarious), and also on the news is a man in Colorado is arming up and planning to hunt and sale drone licenses so people can shoot them down if they come near their property. Due to these people planning to shoot down these drones, it becomes costly for Amazon to risk their technology if people like this man in Colorado are already planning to hunt down these drones.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nationaljournal.com/innovation-works/this-colorado-man-is-ready-to-hunt-amazon-drones-20131203
Very interesting article, I had a good chuckle.
ReplyDeleteWell that is some futuristic shit (excuse my language), but really. That would be both amazing and kind of weird. While I would love to have my packages delivered to my door within the hour, it is a bit weird to consider it would be delivered by a drone. While I also understand why people would be alarmed about this and the potential for drones to get into the wrong hands, there are so many opportunities for bad things to get into the wrong hands already, that this really isn't something new. I think that it is ridiculous that people are considering hunting and shooting down drones, but then again, this is America and I am not at all surprised. Overall, I think this article is extremely interesting and I might look into it some more and find out if online shopping just got a little bit easier.
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ReplyDeleteI personally feel that if Amazon can deliver my package within 30 minutes of my purchase using a UAV, then that technology should be utilized despite the marginal "threat" this may pose for national security. As Americans, one characteristic that helps defines our culture is our insistence on instant gratification. It would therefore be un-American to oppose the implementation of such a technology and those who oppose it could potentially foster communist ideology. Furthermore, the packages being carried are "5 pounds or less" and given the weight restrictions on these UAV's, the prospect of putting an explosive device capable of inflicting serious damage upon the homeland is highly unlikely.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article, I'm glad to learn that I am not the only one hesitant about the idea of package-delivering drones. As you importantly pointed out in the article, there is no preventive measure for the drone being taken into the wrong hands. It doesn't hurt to be weary of the issue. It seems like there are just too many issues with this idea for it to be successful. Also, how is the security of the package guaranteed? This just seems like an overall bad idea to me...
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