An nameless reader quotes a report from Motherboard: [T]he NYPD introduced it is piloting check drones to fly over at-risk neighborhoods and make public bulletins throughout emergencies. On Sunday, on the tail finish of a weekend of heavy rainfall and flooding, New York Metropolis’s emergency notification system tweeted that the NYPD could be “conducting a check of remote-piloted public messaging capabilities” at a location confirmed to AM New York as Hook Creek Park in Queens. The NYPD advised AM New York that the drones have been being examined to make bulletins throughout weather-related emergencies, and have been being examined upfront of extra flooding anticipated this weekend. The feedback counsel that public announcement drones may very well be deployed in a real-world state of affairs very quickly.
Moreover the eeriness of a drone instructing New Yorkers throughout life-threatening emergencies, the check raises questions concerning the NYPD’s compliance with legal guidelines that require the company to alert the general public when deploying surveillance expertise. The NYPD is required to publish an influence assertion and use coverage on its web site and search public remark 90 days previous to deploying new surveillance expertise to adjust to the 2020 POST Act. Nonetheless, in accordance with the regulation, the NYPD merely has to amend previous use insurance policies whether it is utilizing beforehand current surveillance tech for brand new functions. For its use coverage for unmanned plane, finalized in April 2021, there isn’t any point out of the emergency bulletins. The doc says, “In conditions the place deployment of NYPD (drones) has not been foreseen or prescribed in coverage, the best uniformed member of the NYPD, the Chief of Division, will determine if deployment is suitable and lawful. In accordance with the Public Oversight of Surveillance Expertise Act, an addendum to this influence and use coverage shall be ready as crucial to explain any further makes use of of UAS.” No such addendum seems on the web site. “This plan simply is not going to fly. The town already has numerous methods of reaching New Yorkers, and it could take 1000’s of drones to achieve the entire metropolis,” Albert Fox Cahn, govt director of the Surveillance Expertise Oversight Mission advised Motherboard by electronic mail.
“The drones are a horrible option to alert New Yorkers, however they’re a good way to creep us out. Extra alarmingly, the NYPD is as soon as once more violating the landmark Public Oversight of Surveillance Expertise (POST) Act, which requires public discover and remark earlier than deploying new surveillance methods.” Cahn added: “No gadget goes to be an alternative choice to efficient metropolis administration and communication practices.”
