Fever-reading drones just first of a wave of privacy challenges, civil liberties advocates say

[mia]

...The drones are just one example of what some civil rights advocates fear could be a looming wave of intrusive technology and constitutionally questionable measures pushed by governments — from local to state to federal — under the mission of protecting a fearful community.

Already, they point out, thermal cameras have been installed at the criminal courthouse in Miami; governors in Massachusetts and Alabama have signed executive orders telling local health agencies to give first responders the addresses of anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19. Google and Apple are working on cellphone applications that could inform someone on the other end of a call that they’re speaking with a virus carrier.

Authoritarian countries like China, already with poor human rights records, have tightened the screws further: Chinese who don’t agree to constant surveillance are forced to lock down in their homes, or face arrest.

It seems unlikely to go that far in the United States, where President Donald Trump is pressing to reopen the economy. But Gross, for one, pointed to 2001, when less than two months after terrorists struck New York City and Washington, D.C., Congress enacted the Patriot Act, which greatly expanded the nation’s surveillance laws, while reducing checks and balances like judicial oversight — despite a litany of concerns raised about an erosion of civil rights....

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article242370226.html

[hlthe2b]

1. How, pray tell, do they think they will adjust for dogs/cats in the household whose normal temps

may be as high as 102.5? I have never seen this addressed, beyond the obvious privacy issues.

[Igel]

2. Size. Shape.

As for privacy, cameras that look at you when you're in public are no more invasive than any other type of camera.

EM radiation is EM radiation. I see you in visible light, no reason I shouldn't be able to see you in the infrared.

[Marrah_Goodman]

3. this pandemic has brought on a huge new wave of conspiracy theories

Especially now that people have nothing to do and are on the computer all the time. Youtube is filled with this kind thing.

[Midnight Writer]

4. I don't expect privacy in a public space, but my home is my sanctum.