Should we worry about Seattle Police flying remote eyes in the sky?

The ACLU is raising red flags about privacy concerns after word surfaced last week the SPD has received FAA approval to deploy several unmanned drone aircraft to patrol the skies over the city.

Doug Honig, spokesman for the ACLU of Washington, said the use of drones by police should prompt Mayor Mike McGinn and the City Council to draft new public policy, according to a report in the Associated Press.

“The ACLU supports the use of technology to help government accomplish its basic missions, and drones can be useful,” Honig said. “At the same time, the use of drones can really change people’s relationship with their government. … So, if the city of Seattle is going to go ahead and deploy drones, leaders need to develop clear and transparent guidelines for their use.”

But Ross and Burbank co-host Luke Burbank isn’t very worried about it.

Listen to Should we be scared of SPD drones?

“We live in a world now where things are videotaped and we are under surveillance a lot of the time and I feel like generally speaking it doesn’t harm me in any way,” said Burbank.

Burbank recounted living in Los Angeles, where law enforcement regularly patrols via helicopter.

But co-host Dave Ross says there’s a big difference between cops in copters and unmanned eyes in the sky watching every move.

“There’s something qualitatively different between a fixed camera and drone that can fly around,” said Ross.

“The government is made up of people like you and me, if we had control of a fleet of remote control drones and could send them anywhere we want and look at anything we want we could take advantage of that.”

The Seattle Times reported the police department declined Friday to talk about how the department intends to use drones, saying it was just now training operators. However, the department has earlier said possible uses could include search-and-rescue operations, natural disasters and investigations of unusual crime scenes.

“It’s not a hassle in my life. I would just say what are you worried about? What are you worried is actually going to happen? It observes you in your backyard barbequeing and then it moves on,” Burbank said.

“It starts out with these drones, but you know they already have these mosquito like cams,” replied Ross about what he warns could become a slippery slope of increasing surveillance.

“How do I tell the dragonfly from the drone? They could be anywhere.”

Not if the ACLU and other privacy rights advocates have their way.