In the skies over Chula Vista, Calif., where the police department operates a drone program 10 hours a day, seven days a week, it’s not uncommon to see an unmanned aerial vehicle darting across the sky.
Chula Vista is one of a dozen U.S. departments that operate what are called first-responder drone programs, where drones are dispatched by pilots, listen to live 911 calls and often arrive first at the scene of accidents emergencies, and crimes, cameras in tow.
But many argue that the adoption of drones by police forces is happening too quickly. The use of drones as surveillance and first responder tools is a fundamental shift in policing, without an informed public debate about regulations, tactics and privacy limits. There is also little available evidence of their effectiveness, with little evidence that drone policing reduces crime.
Now Chula Vista is being sued for releasing drone footage, illustrating how privacy and civil liberties groups are increasingly concerned that the technology will dramatically expand surveillance capabilities and lead to even more police interactions with demographics than historically they have been over-policed. Read the whole story.
—Patrick Sisson
Four ways the Supreme Court could reshape the web
All eyes were on the US Supreme Court last week as it weighed arguments in two cases involving recommendation algorithms and content moderation, both fundamental parts of how the internet works. While we still won’t get a decision on either case for several months, when we do, it could be a big deal.
