Privacy, Ethics & UAVs – What Next?

Never ones to shy away from daunting and provocative topics, the 11th annual Patuxent Defense Forum asked “Privacy, Ethics and UAVs: Was George Orwell a Prophet?”

The forum sponsors, The Patuxent Partnership and the Center for the Study of Democracy at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, chose George Orwell’s book, “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” as a reference point, explained Maija Harkonen, Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Democracy, and Bonnie Green, Executive Director of The Patuxent Partnership, who welcomed guests to the college’s campus center.

There have been major changes in the military’s use of drones over the last few decades. Notably, privacy issues are a growing concern regarding small UAVs since their availability is so widespread in recent years. Their importance in defending the United States and the opportunities they present for Southern Maryland are part of why the topic was chosen, Ms. Green said. They present challenges “in terms of privacy, ethics, and how we value life. All of the issues about our own personal privacy and how it affects us every possible way, every day.” They become “ubiquitous when you can buy them online anywhere, and your 5-year-old has one,” she said. “Whether that’s good, bad or indifferent, how will these drones affect our way of life?”

George Orwell published “Nineteen Eighty-Four” in 1949, and in it he described a future in which “Big Brother” watched every move of every citizen. He was a visionary, Dr. Harkonen said, he talked about a police state where surveillance was a constant.

“We are all very concerned about the privacy issues that relate to UAVs and rapidly changing UAS systems. We seem to have a very good reason to be worried about this,” Dr. Harkonen said, backing that up with some statistics. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, there will be about 7 million drones in use by 2020. There is a lot of business interest at stake, she said. The small drone industry is estimated to be worth about $90 billion in that same time period.

As with other recent forums such as “Religion in Civil Society: The Impacts of Religious Movements on International Relations” (2015) and “Challenges for the US and NATO in Promoting Middle East Stability and Security” (2014), this year’s think-tank collaboration also drew an impressive list of leaders on the topic from the top ranks of academia, government, industry, and the military. The rule of the forum is that the expert panelists and attendees speak freely and openly, but with non attribution to them or the organizations they represent.

This year’s panel discussions set out to look at the issues of privacy, transparency, and accountability; commercial and personnel use of UAVs; and drones and the ethics of war. The starting premise was this:

Drones are here. And there are a lot of them.

The US has a really impressive potential system of systems – Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles and Unmanned Autonomous Systems. As one speaker said. “They are not just in the air. They are going to be under the water, on top of the water and on the ground.” Some of them are not expensive. The economy and humans will drive that supply demand. The commercial and civilian UAV industry will continue to grow, as will the military’s use of them.

The audience was urged to think about the impressive capabilities of UAVs and the good things they can do for human beings and society. These drones possess technology that can save lives, help the world, and stretch communications all over the globe. There is tremendous value in this technology. But at their advent, no one thought about what harm they could do in the wrong hands, both from a military standpoint as well as a civilian one.

One of the speakers pointed out that the military has rules and procedures in place for operating the drones. But what happens in the civilian sector? Potentially, these drones could be all over your neighborhood. Society could be looking at cluttered skies in the future.

Panel I, Privacy, Transparency and Accountability, addressed the legal and regulatory ramifications, with a focus on privacy. Imagine drones moving all around, able to collect all kinds of information, for good and for bad. People already live with lots of interference and information gathering in their lives today, it was pointed out. Just as with cellphones, “drones are another opportunity for good guys and bad guys to gather data, to gather information,” one of the speakers said. The implications of technology on multiple facets of law and restrictions were discussed, including how widespread use of commercial drones impact the reasonable expectation of privacy and what, if any, restrictions exist on drone use.

And whatever the laws, it was noted, there are many practical problems with enforcement of the regulations put in place.

Panel II, Commercial and Personal Use of UAVs, addressed the “civil and commercial explosion” of the number of autonomous drones. The growing number of UAVs brings other issues to the forefront such as software responsibility, insurance, and where you assess liability. Until recently, the use of drones centered primarily upon military use. Today, growth of the commercial drone industry significantly outpaces the military, said one of the UAS experts.

A panelist whose company uses drones, cited opportunities for widespread use in the agriculture industry, for example, and also showed photographs taken during a first responder training exercise. In both of those cases, the drones provided services that were a less-expensive and lower-risk alternative to the traditional methods that have been used in the past.

Despite the explosion of uses we can see drones addressing, panelists emphasized that as with all new technology, their future uses were likely unimaginable to us today. Already the hardware, the drone itself, has become secondary to the software it can carry, panelists said. The importance of drones is the ability to collect data that is useful to clients, data that can be turned around quickly, and data not previously accessible from a remote location.

As Dr. Harkonen noted in her opening remarks, the number of small drones for commercial and personal use is fast growing. So are the numbers for military use of UAVs. In 2014, DoD had 11,400 units in the field. Panelists said the military finds the UAVs successful in their missions and their endurance is significant.

The day’s final panel was Drones and the Ethics of War. How the military uses UAVs spurs much debate in a time when the military rarely uses spies and covert actions anymore. That work is being done by drones. War is no longer confined to the battlefield.

The topic of ethics is always controversial, said a panelist, and there is a lot of anxiety about drones. Any kind of drive to use lethally armed systems that possess a high degree of autonomy will make for a complicated issue.

Military ethics is the core values and principles of the profession of arms. It is the way those principles and ideals are expressed through the behavior of those engaged in the defense of their country. In that context, said a speaker, the emerging military technologies — drone and cyber warfare — impact service members, the way they look at themselves, and how wars are conducted.

It isn’t a one-way street. The technologies provide favorable opportunities and enhanced services and support to the men and women serving.

What are the impacts on the drone operators as opposed to pilots who engage in the same type of combat missions?

One view is that if a particular military mission is legally permissible and morally justifiable it doesn’t suddenly transform into one that isn’t just because you take the pilot out of the cockpit and put him 7,000 miles away, instead of 20,000 feet away.

The more autonomy in the system the more effective the system is as a force multiplier and the fewer people whose lives will be put at risk. That doesn’t just mean the country’s warriors, but also civilian non-combatants. Drones have some distinct features that contribute to their enhanced precision such as their ability to loiter over a target for extended periods, powerful surveillance equipment, and the ability to select the perfect moment to strike.

Part of the second panel’s discussion noted how the UAV technology has gone from the military to the commercial sector. An audience member questioned how to get new technology developing in the commercial sector to flow back to Department of Defense. Collaboration is the key, responded a panelist who noted the “amazing assets” here in Southern Maryland “where we leverage what we do well.”  He credited The Patuxent Partnership’s work of regularly gathering the people, resources, and companies in this field together.

His praise of TPP sparked an additional comment that innovation starts with the young and finding ways to entice young engineers, for example, to this area must continue.

The Patuxent Partnership works with government, industry and academia on initiatives in science and technology, hosts programs of interest to NAVAIR and the broader DoD community, and supports workforce development including education initiatives and professional development.

To learn more about The Patuxent Partnership and its programs, visit its Leader Page.