The Federal Aviation Administration Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, H.R. 658, was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Tuesday — robots are coming to US airspace.
These robots or “drones” are of the same caliber as the one that recently crashed in Iran. There are clear safety issues involved with bringing these drones into U.S. airspace, but there are privacy issues as well. Concerned American citizens should be frightened by several of the act’s provisions.
The act requires the FAA to speed up the process of giving government agencies permission to operate drones, gives government public safety agencies the freedom to operate drones that weigh less than 4.4 pounds, and requires the FAA to develop a 5-year plan for the introduction of civil drones into national airspace.
The act also requires the FAA to develop six testing areas where drones will be integrated into the national airspace system.
If several Houston area lawmakers have their way, Houston will be one of these testing sites. Houston Rep. Pete Olson recently wrote a letter to Michael Huerta, acting administrator of the FAA, requesting that southeast Houston’s Ellington Field be considered for one of the testing areas.
Several Houston area representatives, including Rep. Sheila Jackson lee, Ted Poe and Al Green, signed the letter. The defense contractor Lockheed Martin has several offices in south Houston. According to The Texas Independent, Martin has contributed money to each of the representatives who signed Olson’s letter.
Houston residents should be furious with these representatives for caving to political contributers and trying to bring these powerful surveillance devices into our city.
The passage of this act could be used as justification in the future to pass acts that further infringe on the privacy rights of citizens. Houstonians should speak out and let Congress, Obama and their local representatives know that privacy is not a right they are willing to lose.
A large portion of the need for speeding up the process is for border patrol to use this technology to help them do their job of watching and guarding our borders. This would also bring more jobs to the Houston area.
I love how this article is playing chicken little with out offering any real reason for invasion of privacy by such devices. Just stating that the technology is out ot get us.