Letter to the editor. Do not monitor us citizens with drones

Uddevalla municipality have started using drones to check building permits and discover black buildings. Sure, the purpose is perhaps good – to keep track of people building right – but the method causes concern. We need to ask ourselves: Is it really reasonable for a municipality to start monitoring our plots from the air?

That the drones are not used to « monitor people » in the direct sense is a small comfort. In practice, this means that the municipality flies over private properties and photographs without the residents being always aware of it. It is a slip to a society where authorities use advanced technology to look over our fences. It does not matter if the purpose is control of building permits – the technology risks normalizing monitoring from the air.

This is how it is About more than construction issues. It is about trust between citizens and authorities. Should we who live in Uddevalla have to think about whether our garden is soon mapped by a drone? What will be the next step – heating cameras to see if anyone lives illegally in the Attefallshuset?

The municipality should take a step back and ask if this is the right way to go. There are other methods for controlling construction – such as physical supervision or increased dialogue with property owners. Taking into drone technology risks creating more fear than legal security.

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