Drone Privacy Project

[UWstudent]

Hello everyone,

My name is Paul. I am a undergraduate at the University of Washington. I am in a user design class where we are looking at design solutions to different problems. My group is concerned with Drones and Privacy. Currently we are looking into public perception of drones and how that perception impacts peoples concerns in regards to privacy. We have been tasked with researching the issue and then coming up with a solution that may alleviate privacy concerns people who use drones commercially and recreationally may have. I would like to query anyone interested in helping me with my reseracyh. We have come up with some general questions for our research but I would encourage any opinions or feelings you may have on the subject even if they are outside the scope of the questions. I will include them at the bottom of the post.

To give you some background we are thinking along the lines of developing (in theory only, not actually make it) a application sort of like Waze if you are familiar with it from android phones. Where it would provide real time information on drone activity in someones given area. Providing details of the drones purpose and information of its operator being a business or recreational user. With this in mind would you feel that it would be something that would help with any current negative perception drones may have? Would it be something you think would be useful, and you woudl use? Or do you feel that its something that would have challenges to the drone operators privacy? These type of questions are what we are looking at as well. I'm sorry to leave such a long winded post but I wanted to give as much information as possible! I hope to hear back from you all and look forward to speaking with you.

-Paul

What do you associate more with drones: military / recreational?

What is your experience with drones?

Have you seen one in person?

How would you feel if you noticed one flying near your house?

Are you open to the use of drones in society?

Could society benefit from the implementation of drones?

What could you see drones being used for in the near future?

Who do you think should be able to operate drones?

 

[eskil23]

What do you associate more with drones: military / recreational?

What is your experience with drones?

Have you seen one in person?

How would you feel if you noticed one flying near your house?

Are you open to the use of drones in society?

Could society benefit from the implementation of drones?

What could you see drones being used for in the near future?

Who do you think should be able to operate drones?

Are we supposed to answer these questions, complement them with more questions, or just write our opinion about them?
I'll start by answering them, just for fun.

What do I associate with drones? Both military and recreational as well as professional civilian use

Have I seen one in person? Actually no. My own drone is not even halfway done and I have never seen any other drone in real life.

How would I feel if I noticed one flying near my house? Cool! That's a drone! Is it a Phantom?

Am I open to the use of drones in society? Hell yeah!

Could society benefit from the implementation of drones? Absolutely! Many applications that is carried out by helicopter today can be done cheaper, easier, safer and more environmentally friendly with drones.

What could I see drones being used for in the near future? Filmmaking, small parcel delivery, powerline inspection, traffic monitoring, journalism, racing, searching for missing people, wildlife inventory, sheep and reindeer herding, etc.

Who do I think should be able to operate drones? Anybody with the appropriate training. I am open for regulation with permission and licensing as long as the levels and requirements are reasonable.

 

[Bartman]

Hello everyone,

My name is Paul. I am a undergraduate at the University of Washington. I am in a user design class where we are looking at design solutions to different problems. My group is concerned with Drones and Privacy. Currently we are looking into public perception of drones and how that perception impacts peoples concerns in regards to privacy. We have been tasked with researching the issue and then coming up with a solution that may alleviate privacy concerns people who use drones commercially and recreationally may have. I would like to query anyone interested in helping me with my reseracyh. We have come up with some general questions for our research but I would encourage any opinions or feelings you may have on the subject even if they are outside the scope of the questions. I will include them at the bottom of the post.

To give you some background we are thinking along the lines of developing (in theory only, not actually make it) a application sort of like Waze if you are familiar with it from android phones. Where it would provide real time information on drone activity in someones given area. Providing details of the drones purpose and information of its operator being a business or recreational user. With this in mind would you feel that it would be something that would help with any current negative perception drones may have? Would it be something you think would be useful, and you woudl use? Or do you feel that its something that would have challenges to the drone operators privacy? These type of questions are what we are looking at as well. I'm sorry to leave such a long winded post but I wanted to give as much information as possible! I hope to hear back from you all and look forward to speaking with you.

-Paul

Hi Paul and welcome to the site.

Since there are already apps that will display the locations of all known air traffic I don't see why "drones" (as you call them, not my preferred catch-all designator) would be excluded.

Regarding the questions, you use the word "Drones" and in the first answer I explain I associate that term with military hardware so it makes the rest of my answers skewed by the fact that I'm addressing all sUAS/UAS (personal, civilian/commercial, military) even though the word "drones" might lead me to believe you're referring to military aircraft

What do you associate more with drones: military / recreational? "drones" seem to imply military, with recreational uses I prefer the term multi-rotor helicopter, for civilian/commercial use I prefer sUAS or UAS depending on size

What is your experience with drones? no first hand military experience either as targeter or targetee, been flying RC since 1983, multi-rotor helicopters since Nov, 2010

Have you seen one in person? military, no....industrial UAS, no......personal/commercial sUAS, yes

How would you feel if you noticed one flying near your house? concerned, attentive, curious, defensive.....if military or domestic law enforcement/agency, alarmed, concerned

Are you open to the use of drones in society? civilian, to some reasonable degree, yes.....for domestic law enforcement or agency use, not sure yet

Could society benefit from the implementation of drones? to some reasonable degree, yes military/gov't agency/law enforcement, remains to be seen

What could you see drones being used for in the near future? military, anything and everything.....civilian, anything and everything but not sure I want to see a web of low altitude airways established so autonomous vehicles can be whizzing by constantly.........it might make seeing the Kardashians on TV at all hours seem like the good old days!

Who do you think should be able to operate drones? military as necessary, commercial/personal by people willing to participate as responsible operators with respect for all airspace users and for the unknowing (as in, not associated with what is going on over their heads) general public on the ground

 

[UWstudent]

Hello and thanks for responding!

@eskil23 - Thanks for answering the questions I posted! I would appreciate all of the above lol. If you feel the questions are good then just giving me some feedback on them is perfect. Yet, if you have a opinion or some thoughts on the topic that are not adequately expressed by the questions I would definitely welcome you to create your own questions or just talk about what you think. I really appreciate your input!

@Bartman - Thank you also for your responses. You touching on the perception of the word "drone" is right up the ally of my project. We are also aware of the connotation that can be associated with the word "drone" and think that it is part of the negative public perception of "drones" as this to bring up military applications in most peoples minds. IE - bombing, taking out terrorists, etc. So I really appreciate you touching on this and explaining the distinction. You mention other applications that monitor air traffic, I'd be interested in checking these out for context in the app we're designing. I'll do a search but if you could provide a name of the application would definitely be helpful. Also as it pertains to the app we're designing would you see this as something that would be helpful in alleviating public concerns regarding their privacy and drone use? Your answers were very insightful and I thank you for them! If like I mentioned to eskil23 if you find that there is some things not covered by the questions you would like to touch on in regards to sUAS and privacy it would definitely be welcome.

Thank you again for your responses! I hope to hear more from other members of the community and look forward to speaking with you all more.

-Paul

 

[Motopreserve]

This is an interesting project. As was touched on by the previous responses, I think the key here is the distinction between "drone" and sUas or Multirotors.

Despite there being apps to track other types of aircraft, the fact that this segment of the market is growing so quickly, and seems to stir such anxiety amongst certain people - I think any and all projects aimed at eleviating those fears is a positive one. Even better if the app helps classify and make the distinction between the various craft and their uses.

Many may give in or accept the widespread use of the term drone, considering it merely semantics. But with 10+ years of televised military drone use, it's not hard to understand why the general public has such concerns about "drones" flying over their homes. But if education and a distinction can be made (and I think we can all agree there are differences between me flying a Multirotor for photo/video and a drone used to target a military target), then I think playing the semantic-game has value.

Kudos for taking on a project that is not only timely, but may prove useful in a positive way for this sUas industry.

 

[frogman1206]

What do you associate more with drones: military / recreational?

Military but unfortunately the media associates it with anything that flies remotely these days.

What is your experience with drones?

None with real drones. 5-6 years if you use the media induced definition. Mostly for aerial imagery.

Have you seen one in person?

Military ....no. Seen plenty of RC flying machines with cameras attached though.

How would you feel if you noticed one flying near your house?

If I saw someone flying a quad near my house I would probably go out and see what they were doing and find out what they were flying. Just out of curiosity because I fly them too. Now if they were trying to hover outside a window I may get a little upset.

Are you open to the use of drones in society?

I am definitely up to RC machinery being used in society and also in a commercial way as long as it is done safely.l

Could society benefit from the implementation of drones?

Yes there are many good uses for unmanned vehicles from Search and Rescue to crop management.

What could you see drones being used for in the near future?

Crop management, search and rescue, roof inspections, windmill inspections, water management district inspections, real estate promotion.....many many more uses.


Who do you think should be able to operate drones?

People who prove they can be responsible in their use and not do stupid stuff with them. There should be some sort of low level certification process.

 

[eskil23]

In Sweden I think most people use the word "Drönare" (drone) as a overall term for all kinds of UAVs and RPVs. Some besserwissers claim that a drone is a remotly piloted airplane and that helicopters and multirotors not should be inculded in this term, but the press and most people thinks "flying machine with nobody in it" => drone (drönare).