Regulation of Drones Can't Come Soon Enough

Talk about great timing. 

On Tuesday, the ACLU of Maine and privacy advocates testified before the Judiciary Committee in favor of a bill to put reasonable limits on law enforcement use of drones for surveillance. "An Act To Protect the Privacy of Citizens from Domestic Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Use," sponsored by Sen. John Patrick (D-Rumford), would require a warrant in most cases before police could use the unmanned aerial vehicles for surveillance.

Yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union released new information, received in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, that shows for the first time that the U.S. Marshals Service has experimented with using drones for domestic surveillance over seven years ago.

You can read about the released documents here.

The revelation of this information underscores why we need strict rules governing the use of drones by the government.  By requiring that law enforcement secure judicial approval before using drones, we can achieve the right balance for the use of these eyes in the sky.