Abstract
As drones take off – both figuratively and literally –
But this isn’t a fictional dystopian future; it’s late March 2020 in Neath, south Wales, where the local council has teamed up with the police to issue drone-based safety advice during the coronavirus pandemic.
Drones issuing such warnings have been in the skies everywhere from the USA to India, the UK and, of course, China. It’s just part of a swathe of new uses for the world’s growing drone population, triggering a swarm of civil liberty concerns.
Unmanned aerial vehicles are an obvious choice for government agencies during a virus outbreak – they can cover a wide area and be used at a distance to keep staff safe. But there are other reasons to use drones, according to one company with long experience in the area.
“One of the things that drones do almost better than anything else, other than maybe a smartphone, is collect data,” said Cameron Chell, chief executive of Canadian manufacturer Draganfly. “And because there are so many various sensors you can put on a drone, there are so many data applications you can use them for.”
One such application could take drones beyond simply issuing remote warnings and into the realm of spotting likely infections. Draganfly claims that from 200 feet away, its kit can monitor peoples’ temperatures, heartbeats and breathing rates, the level of oxygen in their blood, and even detect coughing – all signs that might indicate a Covid-19 infection.
The company hit the headlines in April after police in Connecticut, in the USA, scrapped a pilot scheme to put the company’s drones to the test. Some were concerned the technology could be used to single people out in a crowd, but Chell insists that’s not the aim.
“It’s not meant to work on the individual. It’s not meant to hover in front of somebody, get that person’s specific health data, identify who they are and determine if they’re sick or not, or if someone should come and pick them up. It’s doing it on a more anonymised, broad basis.”
Chell says the company is “busier than we could ever have imagined” and has had queries from UK security organisations about using the health monitoring technology. This interest shouldn’t be surprising. Drone use has boomed in the UK since 2014, with almost 6,000 licences currently issued by the Civil Aviation Authority.
Police forces have been eager adopters. Thirty-five have pilots’ licences from the CAA, and between them they now command a fleet of more than 170 drones. The National Police Chiefs’ Council says it’s up to forces how they use them.
Derbyshire Constabulary attracted criticism in March when it released footage filmed at Curbar Edge, in the Peak District. Over videos of people out walking dogs and taking selfies, the force animated the caption “not essential” in what some saw as a debatable interpretation of the government’s coronavirus advice.
But the drone wasn’t being used to monitor or enforce coronavirus restrictions, according to police, who said it was “up for media purposes only”, to gather footage for a public information film. It has led to a lively debate over how data protection law should apply to such situations.
Aside from data laws, in the UK there are two different sets of rules for public organisations and for private drone fliers.
One is the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice, which says any filming must be necessary and proportionate, and the effect on privacy must be taken into account. There must also be a lawful basis such as prevention of crime, although new and untested laws such as the coronavirus restrictions make that trickier to apply.
The UK’s surveillance camera commissioner, Tony Porter, says his office has already been approached by several police forces seeking advice on using drones for coronavirus matters. In the Derbyshire Constabulary case, he says the force would “struggle to justify” its filming under the code, but he has no power to enforce that code.
The second set of rules is from the CAA, dictating – among other things – that drones cannot be flown within 50 metres of anyone over whom the pilot has no control. Police have always been able to breach that rule in emergencies, but thanks to coronavirus the CAA has now enshrined that into a specific exemption, allowing smaller drones within 10 metres. The CAA will consult with the National Police Chiefs’ Council before lifting the exemption.
Some, including those inside the surveillance industry, are concerned about China’s dominance of a drone industry that’s harvesting growing amounts of data
CREDIT: Tetiana Lazunova/iStock
This potentially brings the era of drone surveillance closer to home. Forces could fly drones over houses and gardens, although they’d likely face action from the Information Commissioner’s Office if they failed to argue a very strong case for doing so.
While in lockdown, the use of drones is being considered for public warnings, “diagnosis” and social distancing detection.
As countries move to lift lockdown restrictions, could drones be combined with facial recognition to track individuals and enforce restrictions?
Opinion differs as to whether it’s technically possible. Facial recognition firms believe their software can be mounted on drones, but those who’ve observed police use of facial recognition say it requires large, high-quality cameras that would be hard to mount on small UAVs.
There are also more prosaic limitations in countries such as the UK, according to Zak Doffman, CEO of global security company Digital Barriers.
“If you said to people, ‘You’ve been told to isolate, therefore if you’re seen out
and about we’ve got drones patrolling the parks etc and you’re going to get a heavy fine’, obviously that would work technically, but politically it would be a disaster,” he said.
There’s an irony to the increasing drone use during a pandemic that started in China: the country is by far the world’s biggest supplier of UAVs, and one name dominates the pack – DJI.
The Chinese manufacturer is estimated by some to supply 60% of the world’s drones. In the USA, a whopping three-quarters of 2019 drone registrations with the Federal Aviation Authority were for DJI devices.
Unsurprisingly, the company (which did not wish to be interviewed for this article) has sprung into action during the pandemic, putting its drones out for various uses. For example, they helped spray three million square metres of land in Shenzhen, China, with disinfectant (the company later said it had discontinued the project).
It has also donated drones to 43 agencies in 22 US states, where some are being used for public warning announcements of the type seen in south Wales.
In 2017, the US Department for Homeland Security said it had “moderate confidence” the firm was passing critical information to the Chinese government – a claim repeatedly denied by DJI, which says drone owners control their own data.
“We’re going to have to work out if we’re happy to get all this tech from China, with a Chinese [manufacturing] ecosystem,” said Doffman.
Nonetheless, supply from China is pump-priming the market for drones, and the current pandemic is feeding into that.
Coronavirus may have brought a drone-heavy future a step closer.