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View Full Version : Florida Senate Bill Bans Drones from Spying on Citizens



Hatha Sunahara
18th January 2013, 10:20 PM
Are the elitist politicians trying to make it look like they are protecting people from government abuse? Read the exceptions. And the bill only outlaws the use of evidence gathered by drones. When they start sending up drones that can kill people, this won't protect anybody.


Hatha



http://www.activistpost.com/2013/01/florida-senate-bill-bans-drones-from.html

Florida Senate Bill Bans Drones From Spying on Citizens










The Criminal Justice Committee of the Florida Senate voted unanimously to move a bill forward that seeks to ban the police from using drones to spy on citizens.

The summary of the bill (SB 92) titled Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act is as follows:

Searches and Seizures; Citing this act as the 'Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act'; prohibiting a law enforcement agency from using a drone to gather evidence or other information; authorizing an aggrieved party to initiate a civil action in order to prevent or remedy a violation of the act; prohibiting a law enforcement agency from using in any court of law in this state evidence obtained or collected in violation of the act, etc. (Source (http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2013/0092))
The bill originally prohibited police from using drones at all, but some concessions were made to accommodate law enforcement.

According to the Associated Press:

The panel amended the bill to make exceptions to the ban for search warrants signed by judges and for certain emergencies such as fires and hostage situations.


The bill also includes an exception for terrorism-related searches.

The use of drones for terror-related searches will be at the discretion of the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security:

EXCEPTIONS - This act does not prohibit the use of a drone to counter a high risk of a terrorist attack by a specific individual or organization if the United States Secretary of Homeland Security determines that credible intelligence indicates that there is such a risk. (Source (http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2013/0092/BillText/Filed/PDF))

The Act strictly prohibits the use of any evidence gained through drone surveillance, thus taking away some of the motivation for their use. Additionally, the Act allows for citizens to seek civil action against law enforcement should a drone be wrongly used against them.

The bill still must go through a general vote in the Senate before becoming law.

palani
19th January 2013, 04:53 AM
The general philosophy in writing statute law is that you must make it appear that you are against that innovation which you are attempting to gain approval on. There is no law on drones in the State of Florida therefore it is not unlawful to have drones in the State. So we are going to write a law which regulates the practice of having drones in the sky and the practice is now lawful.

The same can be said of regulations regarding large capacity magazines.