It’s been a day of future tech headlines today as random drones have closed Gatwick Airport in London the day before the busiest plane travel day in the year.
I can already see plenty of complaints from folk online who say this sort of thing must be easy to stop. But I’m pretty sure that’s not the case.
I’ve written about drones in the past (for example, ‘Drones and Regulation’ in 2015 and ‘Festive Drones: When Will Santa Upgrade?’ in 2014). But I’m a strong believer that this will ultimately turn into a technology that it’s impossible to defend against from a security perspective. There are simply too many variables at play here and I don’t think we should be surprised to see many more of these kind of incidents – regardless of how heavily the industry is regulated.
If that comes across as pessimistic, it shouldn’t be. Like every technology, it is itself neutral – and there are many incredibly powerful, good use cases. But this video (filmed, incidentally, in Edinburgh of all places), remains on my mind.
And in a year when we’ve now seen the first high-profile assassination attempt of a political leader in Venezuela, there’s no doubt that the tech is here to stay. As ever, the question is how we as a society choose to address the questions that it poses.
PS. Make sure you watch to the end of the video: particularly from 6mins43 onwards. There’s a serious message there. And a question:-
In a world in which this is not only possible but probably, do you still think it’s a good idea to share your personal data with everyone?