Surveillance and Privacy – A Gray Area
This is so because the edge between surveillance and privacy gets very blurred in the age of drones. It is true that drones offer tremendous opportunities for the monitoring of public events and other security concerns and even wildlife conservation; however, when the issue of respect for individual privacy arises, gigantic challenges come up. Drones are able to capture moments that go beyond the interest of the public; they reveal moments of individual person’s private lives.
Governments and private companies have been using drones to monitor crowds in instances of protest or major public gatherings for safety and security reasons, but this has always remained a subject of privacy invasion as these people may not be prepared to have every move they make recorded by a flying camera when going about their private conversations or personal interactions during such events. With public safety and private privacy existing in precarious balance with one another, the phenomenon of drones complicates such a delicate balance.
With advanced technology that drones possess, comes the regulations and guidelines to how an individual should respect people’s privacy. Now, the problem of privacy is no more about shying away from being filmed, but rather retaining control over the personal moment and who sees it. The new phenomenon of surveillance by drones requires rethinking of society about its self-perception in terms of deeming privacy relevant to the digital phase.
