Drone On

It was an interesting news cycle this past week. Things are not always as they seem.

Just today we saw in the news how an unmanned aerial vehicle or drone as they are commonly called, took out the Yemen Al Qaeda leader who claimed credit for the Charlie Hebdo attack.

The military use of drones seems an acceptable practice when deployed in the fight against terrorism. But like many others I was firmly on the side of prohibiting the use of drones domestically.

However this week my perspective on the domestic or commercial use of drones took an about turn. My previous concerns about the risk of abuse, privacy concerns, public safety, lack of legal framework, and the general preconceptions about targeted killings and big brother government, were diminished considerably after viewing a video on a life saving application – the ambulance drone

And then after researching a little bit more I discovered a Ted Talk on the same subject.
The ambulance drone has got me wondering how many other life saving applications are there out there that are hampered by the public perception of the use of drones and their opposition to their use in a domestic setting? Is there a plausible argument for intelligence gathering in a domestic hostage situation, incidences of rioting, or other community policing applications? Where do you draw the line?

Share your view and ideas on the subject at The Sole Truth