Expectation of Privacy. Many of the surveillance and privacy laws are based on this concept. What is expectation of privacy? Do we have an expectation of privacy when we are in our own homes? How does it differ when we change our location? Do we have different expectations of online privacy in our own home vs in a public area? According to US surveillance and privacy laws, yes. These are all public places and do not have the same protection from surveillance.

Before electronic surveillance, what was the likelihood that a conversation would be overheard, and/or recorded? What was the likelihood that a person would be observed driving down a street or highway at a specific time? Electronic surveillance has made it much easier to listen in on conversations or to record movements without being seen. Courts have allowed the use of toll road records, traffic cameras and surveillance cameras that record movement and actions in public places. We have all seen the video from surveillance cameras that have caught robberies on film. These cameras are set up specifically for that purpose. But what about the use of toll road records? When a person drives on a toll road a record is made of the date and time the vehicle used the road. Should these records be used to track suspects? What happens if a traffic camera is used to look for a suspected robber and a politician is observed driving into a hotel parking lot with someone who is not their spouse? Does the politician have an expectation of privacy in this situation?

Now more questions are being raised over the use of drones or UAV’s (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). Government agencies, mostly the military and Homeland Security have used UAV’s for years. Now that the cost has come down and they are publicly available, we see more and more local agencies and private citizens using UAV’s. Recently, a UAV accidentally landed on the White House lawn (Drone Crash at White House Apparently Accidental). A quick Google search for Quadcopter, the UAV in the article, shows they range in price from about $70 to $2,800. Certainly affordable to a wide number of people.

In more recent stories drones interfered with firefighters fighting a fire near a freeway in Freemont California https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/18/us/california-freew… The drones prevented the use of air drops to fight the fires and as a result dozens of cars on the freeway caught on fire and burned. A few months ago, a https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/british-airw… . One concern officials have is that many drone operators have no aviation experience and treat the drones as a toy. Both of these incidents put people at risk.

We can all see drones flying around, cameras, etc… but what about the things we can’t see? Websites use analytics and tracking to track everything from number of visits to time spent on page to even our general happiness. In 2016, Google announced it was going to focus on machine learning resulting in a lot of people saying it will soon be able to https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/go… . https://money.cnn.com/2017/05/11/technology/tracki… . In 2012, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2102859/H… .

How do you think the availability of UAV’s to private citizens will affect our privacy? Our safety? Should law enforcement be able to use UAV’s to ensure our safety? Some have suggested the use of UAV’s to patrol neighborhoods, give traffic citations (similar to red-light cameras) and pursue fleeing criminals. How would such uses affect our privacy? Is the reduced privacy worth the increased safety?

Should private companies and individuals by allowed to use UAV’s? Companies are delivering products via drones. Real Estate companies, news crews, amateur and professional photographers are using drones to film or photograph private residences, events, companies, etc… How will our privacy be impacted with private use? Again these are all things we can see if we looked up. The other aspect of privacy expectations, are what we don’t see and should we see? Should we have access to our own data, like how many times we hearted something on facebook, or how many times we looked at a pair of running shoes on Amazon before we actually purchased them? In what ways would having access to that data benefit us individually? Should all websites by law have to tell us if they are using our data (how many times we visited, etc)? Should companies be required to tell consumers who they share their data with? 

this is the assignment. and respond to 2 students

Student #1

I think that the availability of UAVs to private citizens is something that should be allowed, however, there should be regulations around this to ensure that this technology is not taken advantage of to do malicious things. I believe that the availability of such technology should fall in the hands of the government when it comes to gathering data, corporations, and individuals should have access to this tool, as long as it doesn’t threaten our privacy as citizens. I do not think there is anything inherently wrong with using drone footage for photos or videos as long as they are not using this technology to gather data with malicious intent. Filming a video with a drone is fine, but if it is focused on one person or a few, those people should have to give consent if they want the video to be published. Robust regulation could ensure that UAVs are a force for good rather than evil.

UAVs will also affect safety, but I think it is important to recognize the trade-offs between privacy and security. Although I recognize the need for security, I think we should strive for privacy, where security is something that is recognized, but not prioritized over privacy. Allowing law enforcement to use UAVs would definitely help with security, and this is something that should definitely be considered. However, I hope that the application of UAVs can be done in a way to not create bias towards people of color, as that could be harmful to those communities. Giving traffic citations would be the proper application of this technology.

We should also have access to our own data, and we should have the right to see what data is being shared, and where that data is going. This clarity could build trust between individuals and companies, as well as show the relationship between the two in a clear manner. This would force corporations to use data in more ethical ways, as individuals would probably be mad if they found out their data was being used in ways that they did not like. It would be important for that data to be simplified and easy to understand, as many people would probably not understand the dataset they have been given.

student #2 

I think there are two trade-offs in the dispute between privacy and users’ rights: one is the moral issue, and the other is the law. According to my own use of internet services (e.g. Facebook, Amazon, etc.), most of these types of internet services collect information about the user, analyze it, and recommend options that the user prefers. In fact, I think I can accept this issue as long as the company is not leaking or selling the user information, because I know that the source of profit for these companies is the precise target audience, not selling the user information, and this is what I mean by ethical issues. On the contrary, I think users need to have a certain degree of Internet literacy to properly judge whether the source of the service company and organization is legitimate and trustworthy before deciding whether or not to use the company’s services. Legal protection is what we do to protect ourselves when our data is misused.
With the rapid development of cloud technology in recent years, drones have become a privacy concern. I think the best way to address this issue is for the government to regulate the users of drones and their right to use them, such as mandatory registration of users’ personal information and home information.
Using drones and cameras by government agencies infringe on personal privacy? I don’t think we need to worry too much about that, because I believe most of these data are protected, and unless there is an emergency, it should not affect our lives.