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To position my research in the existing literature, I will review the following issues of associated studies:
Although much study has been done on the ethics of RPAS (Finn and Wright, 2012) there has not been as much research on the ethical aspects of RPAS integration into our daily lives.
Some scholars have increased concerns due to the reality that drones are much cheaper to acquire than before and compare drones to "dragonflies" because they can be very small and still be equipped with high-definition cameras.
This essentially means that drones can get more comprehensive photos of the people being tracked and people will find it difficult to notice the drones and be aware that they are being looked at. (Wright et al., 2014)
In a prior study based on people's privacy perceptions of civilian drones, Wang et al. conducted interviews that were more focused on public places rather than private places which lack existential evidence about people's privacy perceptions from their personal space, home or even backyards.
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(Wang et al., 2016). The consensus on their findings, however, was that if a drone takes photos, videos, or even simply flies into a private space the drone would be deemed to invade the privacy of the inhabitants. (Wang et al., 2016). I think it is essential for drone use to follow the same rules as any other form of vehicle, aircraft or recreational hobby which could cause substantial harm or infringe the privacy of others and as far as South African law is concerned, the right to privacy is protected under common law and Section 14 of the 1996 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.
(Right2Know and Privacy International, 2019). Privacy is frequently expressed as an issue because drones may be infringing on privacy of location when drone images can be used to identify and locate individuals, privacy of behavior in a private or public space without being monitored by others, privacy of space as data about personal locations such as backyards is disclosed, privacy of association which is concerned with people's right to associate with whomever they wish without being monitored and privacy of data and image ensuring that information of a person is not accessible to other persons. (Finn, Wright and Friedewald, 2013).
Jones (2016) emphasizes that moral considerations apply to all decisions made by systems engineers and programmers on the architecture of systems and states that: "These decisions involve judgments about what is important and what is not, and, as such, involve exercises of power which have an inherently ethical dimension" (Jones, 2016). He goes on further to say that a crucial aspect of ethical analysis is to test and explore these moral values and reveal their expression in technology. Technology can be designed to protect privacy or infringe it for example drones were initially designed for the military where they were used for intelligence gathering and as a weapons platform but are now widely used by ordinary citizens ranging from surveillance, photography and personal use. In other words, technology can be designed to control what can be accessed or to circumvent such measures. Such eye-opening work as Jones (2016:38) highlights is important since these are the very attributes of technology and their usage that are the start of many ethical problems.
The primary question to ask is should people feel safe knowing that someone can be watching them taking pictures of them? With this concern, how can individuals feel safe? Yes, many benefits from this technology but, other issues are also created. If this technology is going to form part of our daily lives and continue to germinate, more regulations must be put in place to protect civilians and greater implications if it is breached. I think the advantages will outrank the disadvantages only if the rules and guidelines for protecting people are more stringent.
Technology as we know it has two principal modes of action one being photo-tropical and seeking light; the other moving away from light. This analogy achieves the objective of either positive or negative photo-tropism and in human terms, we consider voluntary action to be fundamentally a decision between tropisms. The father of the information age Norbert Wiener laid a firm foundation in the 1940s and early 1950s for the area of study, now known as "computer ethics." His work was largely overlooked for decades. Some intellectuals are still trying to identify the nature and limits of the topic today more than 50 years after Wiener developed computer ethics. We first need to know and understand ethics to comprehend the ethical problems associated with computing and more in particular drones. The following description is not designed to be authoritative, but to provide the reader with a common frame of reference for understanding the underlying ideas of this research proposal.
Valesquez et al. defines ethics as justifiable standards of good and bad that essentially stipulates what individuals ought to do and the pedagogical growth of our own ethical standards (Velasquez et al., 2015).
In his study "A Synthesized Definition of Computer Ethics" Brian R Hall attempts to offer the computing community a new definition of Computer Ethics:
"Computing ethics is the interdisciplinary and collaborative efforts of scholars and professionals to methodically study and practically affect the contributions and costs of computing artifacts in a global society."
He goes on further to support both Bynums and Moor's definitions (Moor, 1985; Bynum, Terrel Ward, 1996) of computer ethics but manages to contest and divert both sentiments (Hall, 2014).
I, therefore, tend to agree with Hall's definition since it encompasses the most recognized existing definitions and can be extended to include additional aspects.
Computer ethics are simply the use of our ethics and morality for different purposes while using the computer. It consists of all the rules that you would use to not misuse information that is not yours to use or to access data that is not yours. It is essential to understand the significance of computer ethics to develop a secure and safe computer-based environment with issues like hacking, plagiarism, spamming and software piracy. Lastly, Computer ethics cannot be imposed on people, it's something that should be pursued by someone's own free will.
The main problems relating to computer ethics are privacy, accuracy, property and accessibility. (Mason, 1986). A wide range of subjects addressed in the field reflects the complexity and varied nature of theories in computer ethics. Brey and Soraker support this by recognizing several key problems that they defined as "privacy, safety, computer crime, intellectual property, free speech, equity and access, and responsibilities and professional morality" (Brey Johnny Hartz and Gabbay Woods, P., 2009). Each of these fields is equally important but the most visible and domineering subject in this era is privacy. (Einar and Herman, 2008; Jones, 2016). The ACM Code of Ethics also outlines a collection of principals and guidelines that were designed to assist IT professionals in making ethically responsible decisions in professional practice (Gotterbarn et al., 2018). Some crucial ethical principles to paying close attention to are outlined in the following:
In his influential 2006 paper, Moor also accentuates the importance of computer ethics by comparing machine ethics to computer ethics, he declares that the two are very similar and thus provides three reasons on why it is crucial to work on machine (computer) ethics (1) Ethics is fundamental: Machines should ultimately have some human abilities and do us more good than harm. (2) As machines evolve, their ethical decision-making must also evolve. (3) Engineers should imbue machines with a sense of ethics, so we can comprehend ethics better. (Moor, 2006)
Following the various theories and views above by authors in the field of computing and technology, it appears that computer ethics is of great importance to us, as it ensures privacy and the protection of technology users around the world and we as technology users, must, therefore, do our part and obey all computer ethics. However, what appeals most to me is the strong emphasis on privacy in most of the existing literature highlighted above, and as mentioned before it seems to be the most visible and domineering subject in computer ethics. (Einar and Herman, 2008; Jones, 2016).
Gotterbarn et al states that because technology is constantly evolving, research in computing ethics has also had to evolve and he paints a very vivid picture of the evolution of computer ethics in the following statement: "We have moved from Weiner's concern with automated cannons to issues with the use of remotely controlled drones in warfare." (Gotterbarn et al., 2018). This study will focus on the latter: "drones".
Drones are available in various forms and they can vary in size and design leading to various ethical problems depending on the type of drone, need or use (Wilson, 2014) and several key ethical questions need to be asked when drones are used in public due to safety and privacy issues.
Recently, drones are more easily accessible and inexpensive owing to their popularity and enhanced drone production and as drones become more prevalent in South African skies, so do incidents, for example, most drones are equipped with cameras and with cameras come the concern of people's privacy. The information recorded could be used for malicious purposes, such as to plan home invasions or blackmail.
There are a few laws in South Africa that limit where drones can go and what they can record and without rigorous and more stricter regulations on drones, it is difficult to prevent drones from invading people's privacy.
As restricting as these regulations are, there are still a lot of shortfalls in the current regulations. The South African government has made no direct efforts to tackle concerns relating to drone violations of public privacy. The rules governing the trespassing of private property are also not clear enough. This, therefore, raises the question of whether a drone flying over private property is a case of intrusion. Firstly, this study aims to examine the prevalent policy mechanisms of other countries, for the South African government to adopt some of their best practices and to compare the perceptions of individuals on public drone use that will assist the South African government with developing more rigorous and concise regulations that will help reduce safety concerns and protect civilians. To examine the human perception of drones, I will perform 20 structured interviews.
Drones are an interesting innovation that exhibits excellent potential. Their unanticipated and rampant popularity has brought about legal and ethical issues that include privacy and safety with privacy being the largest. These issues will continue to expand and become more serious as time passes. The fact that drones can practically be bought anywhere basically means putting a drone in the hands of someone who is not competent at flying it or someone who will use it for their nefarious activities. In the end, it is up to each individual and the government to safely use drones and regulate them. Once a good balance is reached between regulation and development, drones can serve our communities as very useful instruments. The government should always look to improve current legislation by finding ways to mitigate privacy and safety concerns through designing policies that support these specific issues.
From a future perspective, if nothing is done to control drones, drones will therefore always intervene with Finn et al's seven ethical issues (Finn, Wright and Friedewald, 2013). These seven ethical concerns are urgent issues for our societies' future and must be taken seriously to prevent further threats to civilian lives and to guarantee people's well-being globally. Similarly, in another article, Wright et al make a very powerful point by saying that we must evaluate the implications of drones on the public and have debates or consultations with all interested parties (Wright et al., 2014).
The Implications of Drones on the Public. (2019, Nov 23). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/the-implications-of-drones-on-the-public-essay
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