Many Americans Support Drone Use...What Now?

In a survey conducted jointly by The Associated Press and The National Consitution Center, 44% of respondents said that they were in favor of local police departments using drones to assist in surveillance activities and tracking suspects.

One starting with a baseline perspective that the erosion of privacy is a negative could reasonably wonder whether the questions, or the sample set, were somehow biased to get a number that high. Maybe the questions could have included qualifiers like 'if an officer were in danger' or 'if the suspect were armed' to help pad the pro-drone stats a bit. In fact, the question was simply 'Would you favor, oppose or neither favor nor oppose allowing police forces inside the United States to use unmanned aircraft called 'drones' to assist in their police work?' Hardly inflammatory stuff...

Some might point out that over 50% of Americans are anti-drone, but I would have expected more people to be opposed to tools which dramatically reduce the expectation of privacy in all Americans' daily lives - or at least that people would require qualifications before supporting drone use. If so many people lack any disposition against drones, their use will certainly become more and more entrenched in America.

That said, maybe it is time for me to give up my minor crusade against drone use. Readers should not misunderstand me, I am still not in favor of their use as the situation currently stands. However, if so many people support their use without qualification, it is probably already too late for my infrequent posts to have any kind of impact on the situation.