"I am very concerned that this technology will be used against law-abiding American firearms owners," said founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation
Alan Gottlieb. “This could violate Fourth Amendment rights as well as
Second Amendment rights."
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) obtained a partially redacted copy of Homeland Security’s drone requirements through a Freedom of Information Act request; CNET uncovered an unredacted copy.
Homeland Security design requirements specify that its Predator B
drones “shall be capable of identifying a standing human being at night
as likely armed or not” and must be equipped with “interception” systems
capable of reading cell phone signals.
The first known domestic use of a drone to arrest a U.S. citizen occurred last year in
the small town of Lakota, North Dakota when rancher Rodney Brossart was
arrested for refusing to return six of his neighbor’s cows that had
wandered on to his property. Critics say the fact that domestic drones
are being used in such minor matters raises serious concerns about civil
liberties and government overreach.
"That drone is not just picking up information on what's happening at
that specific scene, it's picking up everything else that's going on," says drone expert and Brookings Institution senior fellow Peter Singer.
"Basically it's recording footage from a lot of different people that it
didn't have their approval to record footage.”
