ACLU-NC Urges Redding City Council Not To Write A Blank Check For Drone Testing

Apr 16, 2013
By:
Linda Lye
ACLU of Northern CA

Tonight, the Redding City Council will consider whether to put the City on the path toward becoming a drone testing site. The ACLU of Northern California has urged the City Council not to approval the proposal at this juncture. (You can read our letter to the City Council here.) The proposal currently before the City Council is nothing more than a blank check. It offers the community no assurances whatsoever that their privacy will not be invaded, and it provides the City Council with no role in overseeing the process of transforming Redding into a drone test site. Drone proponents have emphasized that the integration of drones into domestic airspace is inevitable. While that may be the case, it is therefore all the more essential that Redding, under the leadership of its City Council, take this opportunity to advance not only technology, but also civil rights, privacy, and core values of our constitution.

Drones pose significant threats to privacy because they can easily be used for warrantless mass surveillance. Before any community makes the important decision whether to unleash drones into the skies, it should undertake a participatory and informed debate, and it should ensure that meaningful privacy safeguards are in place. At this juncture, essential information about the drone proposal are lacking.

We've urged the City Council not to write a blank check. And we've also urged them to obtain further information so that they can ensure meaningful privacy safeguards are in place. The good residents of Redding deserve nothing less.

Update: After lengthy and impassioned public comment, the Redding City Council voted 3-1 in favor of becoming a drone testing site. The move authorized by the City Council is preliminary, however. There will be opportunities down the road to advocate for meaningful privacy safeguards, and the ACLU-NC will continue to monitor the developments.

Linda Lye is a Staff Attorney with the ACLU of Northern California.