TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A Senate panel has unanimously cleared a measure that would limit Florida's law enforcement agencies from using drones.
The Senate Judiciary committee Tuesday voted 9-0 to advance the bill (SB 92) that addresses various sizes of aircraft that are piloted remotely. They've become well known from their use by the U.S. against terrorists overseas.
Sen. Joe Negron's bill would restrict drones' use to "prevent(ing) imminent danger to life or serious damage to property." The bill would also make police get a search warrant before using a drone to collect evidence. An exception would be a "credible" threat of terrorist attack.
Only the Miami-Dade Police and Orange County Sheriff's Office currently have drones among Florida police. A Miami-Dade police lieutenant said his agency hasn't yet used a drone.
Sam Kephart posted at 10:30 pm on Sat, Mar 16, 2013.
Domestic drone usage is ill-conceived, elitist, and end-runs our inherent Constitutional protections.
Here are two (2), very well-produced, videos that anchor my points:
Emmy Award-winning newscaster Shad Olson’s ‘The Great Drone Debate’, featuring US Senator John Thune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssoOASanKao
Here’s a mind-blowing, well-done animated short that really captures our collective angst that if the road to hades is paved with good intentions, then domestic drones are a superhighway to an Orwellian panoptic gulag.
http://vimeo.com/59689349
For national security purposes, Americans are already subject to warrantless wiretaps of calls and emails, the warrantless GPS “tagging” of their vehicles, the domestic use of Predators or other spy-in-the-sky drones, and the Department of Homeland Security’s monitoring of all our behavior through “data fusion centers.”
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/
America’s promise has always been the power of the many to rule, instead of the one. Ungoverned drone usage, particularly domestically, gives power to the one.