Randy Dryer, Professor of Law at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, was extensively quoted in a recent KSL News story about personal drones and privacy concerns.
Dryer, a frequent speaker on First Amendment and privacy issues, raised concerns about how drones might be employed by government agencies, including law enforcement.
“Do they need a search warrant before they can surveil someone? Then there’s the additional issue of whether drones could be used with lethal force,” Dryer said in the KSL interview. “In other words, weapons could be mounted on drones: rubber bullets, things of that nature, crowd control, riot control.”
He also noted that drones might be used for less lethal, but equally invasive purposes, such as surreptitiously photographing celebrities.
“The presence of a drone is not always known because they are smaller. Many of them are virtually noiseless. It presents some different challenges for the privacy issues and most of the privacy laws relate to things like use of telephoto lenses.”
To read the entire KSL.com article, click here.