Ethical Considerations Associated With Drones

April 11, 2020

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH DRONES 5

EthicalConsiderations Associated With Drones

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EthicalConsiderations Associated With Drones

Dronewarfare and the general use of Unmanned Aerial vehicles (UAV) areincreasing raising a myriad of ethical issues. Themain issuesabout the use of drones border on the areas of privacy, regulation,safety and noise. In this regard, the primary factor of concern asfar as UAV technology is concerned is how these gadgets should beflown.Various policies have been designed to oversee the general use ofdrones. For instance, national parks enacted a ban, which prohibitedthe launching and the landing of drones on waters and animalorphanages. Monuments, Battlefields,rivers, recreational areas, and historic sites arealso bannedfor drone landing.Accordingly, the essay seeks to depict that the use of droneshasraised ethical issues related to the breachingof individual rights to privacy and deaths of untargeted civilians.

Thisethical issue has been outstanding for quite some time especiallywhen the UAVs are used to gather geographical information at lowaltitudes. The federal aviation administration has legislation thatprohibits drones from being flownover populated areas (Gonzalez-Aguilera&amp Rodriguez-Gonzalvez, 2017).The act also serves to ensure that the use of drones does notcontribute to noise pollution by restricting the height, which theyshould be flown. The act was enacted as a consequence of noise andinstances of breached privacy, especially in recreational areas.

Dronesalso used in military operations as an intervention of combatingterrorists while ensuring that civilian casualties arereduced.The government has often argued that drones areprecise and effectiveand since they enable the soldiers to execute strikes in a moreeffective way(Takahashi, 2015).Inspite of thesearguments, there have been unintended consequences where hundreds ofcivilians have beenkilledby drone attacks launched by the Obama administration(Woit, 2014).In this perspective, the ethical issue raised is that,countries operationalizedrone warfare while having little care over the resultingimplications.

Theissue of the ever increasing numbers of untargeted causalities indrone warfare has been a major setback of this technology. In somequotas, drones are considered to be immoral especially when they aredeployedon the reliance onfaulty intelligence (Restas,2015).The use of drones to indiscriminately bomb targets has also been anissue since it isconsideredas a way of formulating blanket excuses and propositions to killpeople onthe battlefield.

EthicalTheories

Thedeontological ethical theory was proposed by Immanuel Kant to assistindividuals when examining their motives before carrying out anaction that has some implications on others. This theory requirespeople to execute their actions in a manner that is acceptable andthus can be adopted by others to perform a similar task(Restas, 2015).The deontological ethics theory is critical in understanding the useof drones and in limiting their use with an objective of reducing thepotential harm that would occur if the application of this technologybecame universally accepted.

Utilitarianismis an ethical theory that enables decisions to be made afterconsidering the probable benefits and setbacks associated with acourse of action. When using drones in warfare and in geographicalexpeditions orinjournalism, experts should always ensure that the benefits exceed thelimitations (Campana,2017).Therefore, in a situation of battle, military commanders shouldexamine whether drone attacks will reduce civilian and militarycasualties.

Source:The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

Inconclusion, the continued use of drones in warfare and geographicalpurposes raise ethical issues related to the breachingof privacy and deaths of civilians. Deontologicaland utilitarianism ethical theories have varied approaches to theimplications of the continued use UAVs. Various policies should beenacted to minimize the setbacks associated with drone technology.

References

Campana,S. (2017).Drones in Archaeology. State-of-the-art and FuturePerspectives.&nbspArchaeologicalProspection.http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/arp.1569

Gonzalez-Aguilera,D. &amp Rodriguez-Gonzalvez, P. (2017).Drones—an Open AccessJournal.&nbspDrones,&nbsp1(1),1. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/drones1010001

Restas,A. (2015). Drone Applications for Supporting DisasterManagement.&nbspWorldJournal of Engineering and Technology,&nbsp03(03),316-321. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/wjet.2015.33c047

Takahashi,T. (2015).Drones and Privacy.&nbspSSRNElectronic Journal.http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2035575

TheBureau of Investigative Journalism. Retrieved from,www.thebureauinvestigates.comon 31stMarch 2017.

Woit,B. (2014).Drone Defense: The Inherent Right of Self-Defense and U.S.Drone Strikes in Pakistan.&nbspSSRNElectronic Journal.http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1986509

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