Page 54 - FCW, May/June 2020

Ideas
Is there a place for ‘pandemic drones’?
Unmanned aerial systems could be useful for enforcing social distancing — and also for creating a police state
BY MICHAEL RICHARDSON
People in Western Australia may soon see more than birds in the sky because the state’s police force has announced plans to deploy drones to enforce social distancing. The drones will visit parks, beaches and café strips, ensuring people comply with the most recent round of gathering rules.
As COVID-19 restrictions tighten around the world, governments are har- nessing the potential of drones. From delivering medical supplies to helping keep people indoors, drones can do a lot in a pandemic.
Since the outbreak began, China has used drones to deliver medical supplies and food, disinfect villages and even provide lighting to build a hospital in Wuhan in nine days.
Drone medical deliveries have cut transit times, reduced the strain on health personnel and enabled con- tactless handovers, reducing the risk of infection.
It is clear drones are helping com- bat COVID-19 because governments use them to control and monitor. But these measures may be difficult to roll back once the pandemic passes. And safeguards will be needed to prevent unwanted surveillance in the future.
Drone use: Clever, quirky and
sometimes concerning
With cities on lockdown, drones have shown uncanny images of emptied urban landscapes from Wuhan and metros across the globe. Social distanc- ing has inspired some quirky uses by individuals, including walking the dog and asking for a date.
But the main game has been about control. China is using drones to enforce quarantine rules and deter gatherings that violate social distanc- ing rules. One viral video showed a drone scolding an elderly woman for not wearing a mask. In some cases, traf- fic police and municipal officials used drones fitted with speakers to order people home and break up mahjong games.
Flying at high altitudes, drones can help police and other officials monitor large areas to identify those violating restrictions. Similar tactics are being used in Madrid and Nice, with talk of deployment in many other places.
A defense for the ‘good drone’?
There are huge advantages to sending drones into disaster zones such as bush- fires or remote landscapes for search
and rescue. Pilots can safely stream crucial vision from a drone’s optical and thermal cameras.
But while “good drones” can be valu- able in a disaster, they have been criti- cized for giving drone warfare an ethical veneer by association with humanitar- ian work. Some have even argued that using drones at all risks tainting relief work because militaries have played a major role in developing drone tech- nologies that are also responsible for humanitarian tragedies.
Like all technologies, the question should be about how drones are used. For instance, inspecting the breached nuclear reactor at Fukushima with drones is sensible. But embedding systems of control that can be turned against civilians is its own disaster in the making.
Normalizing surveillance
With high-definition and infrared images streamed to command stations, China’s drones may be able to use facial rec- ognition to identify specific individuals using its Social Credit System and fine them for indiscretions.
This level of social control may be appealing in a pandemic that could cost
48 May/June 2020 FCW.COM