Foreign Correspondent: Sept 4

Foreign Correspondent looks at the swarms of private and government drones gathering in American skies -are they bound for the rest of the world?

Just as mobiles and wireless dramatically changed the way we live our everyday lives, drones are set to become the next game-changer.

For many onlookers, drones have been a controversial weapon prowling over foreign battlegrounds targeting enemy combatants and terrorists, often with devastating consequences for hapless civilians in the vicinity. Now as America’s military campaigns wind down many of those drones are coming home, losing the military decals and weaponry and turning their attention to porous borders, law enforcement and a myriad of civilian uses.

The exponential growth is happening with smaller drones in the hands of anyone with a few hundred dollars and access to the local hobby shop.

But some operators are defying the law and flying their drones for commercial purposes: Journalists chasing a story, real estate agents selling a house, paparazzi chasing celebrities and a big-pay day.

In just three years, an order from the US Congress will see tens of thousands of drones take off legally into an already crowded sky, competing for space with domestic aviation. It’s a regulators nightmare. No one seems to know how it will be managed. Supporters see farmers and scientists at the controls. Opponents fear terrorist drones.

“There are political, legal and ethical issues that play out with this. Everything from how do we ensure rights of privacy, to what way the police should be allowed to use them, what way should they not be allowed to use them and how do we keep bad actors from utilising these technologies?” – Peter Singer, Bookings Institution,

Tuesday, 4 September at 8pm on ABC1.