This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/29/world/europe/in-germany-unease-at-plan-to-use-drones-to-fight-graffiti.html
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Some Balk at Plan to Use Drones to Fight Graffiti in Germany | Some Balk at Plan to Use Drones to Fight Graffiti in Germany |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| BERLIN — Germans have no trouble agreeing that the graffiti covering many of the nation’s commuter trains in a most un-Germanic scrawl is intolerable. But what they cannot agree on is the main railway operator’s proposed cure: small drones to patrol the rail yards by night. | BERLIN — Germans have no trouble agreeing that the graffiti covering many of the nation’s commuter trains in a most un-Germanic scrawl is intolerable. But what they cannot agree on is the main railway operator’s proposed cure: small drones to patrol the rail yards by night. |
| While the tiny remote-controlled helicopters, equipped with cameras that officials hope will allow them to catch the graffitists on the spot, are only entering the testing phase, the debate is well developed in a country where clandestine surveillance is a strongly emotional issue. | While the tiny remote-controlled helicopters, equipped with cameras that officials hope will allow them to catch the graffitists on the spot, are only entering the testing phase, the debate is well developed in a country where clandestine surveillance is a strongly emotional issue. |
| The railway operator, Deutsche Bahn, said its miniature drones would be used to patrol the depots and train yards on its own property, not in public spaces, in an effort to combat a problem that costs the company around $10 million a year. | The railway operator, Deutsche Bahn, said its miniature drones would be used to patrol the depots and train yards on its own property, not in public spaces, in an effort to combat a problem that costs the company around $10 million a year. |
| But German unease over unauthorized prying, rooted in memories of Nazi-era denouncements of neighbors and East Germany’s omnipresent secret police, runs deep. And it often leads to conclusions or requests that outsiders might regard as paranoid — deep enough, for example, to have forced Google to bend its rules, allowing Germans who objected to images of their homes being published on the Internet to request they be blurred. | But German unease over unauthorized prying, rooted in memories of Nazi-era denouncements of neighbors and East Germany’s omnipresent secret police, runs deep. And it often leads to conclusions or requests that outsiders might regard as paranoid — deep enough, for example, to have forced Google to bend its rules, allowing Germans who objected to images of their homes being published on the Internet to request they be blurred. |
| Critics say the company is going too far by adding aerial surveillance to the security guards, motion detectors and patrols by the local and state police that already help protect the idle rail cars. Patrick Gau, a lawyer who specializes in defending graffiti sprayers, told the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung that the measure was equivalent to “shooting a cannon at birds.” | |
| The announcement of the plan also comes against the backdrop of a wider public debate over the use of drones, after Germany’s Defense Ministry decided to halt a major project to build its own military drone. In that case, a huge unmanned surveillance aircraft called the Euro Hawk was supposed to be used only abroad, but it ran into trouble when it emerged that German air traffic authorities were not going to grant it permission for takeoff and landing over the country’s airspace because of the hazards it would pose to civilian aircraft. | The announcement of the plan also comes against the backdrop of a wider public debate over the use of drones, after Germany’s Defense Ministry decided to halt a major project to build its own military drone. In that case, a huge unmanned surveillance aircraft called the Euro Hawk was supposed to be used only abroad, but it ran into trouble when it emerged that German air traffic authorities were not going to grant it permission for takeoff and landing over the country’s airspace because of the hazards it would pose to civilian aircraft. |
| Elmar Giemulla, a professor of law at Berlin’s Technical University who specializes in air traffic issues, said the debate over airspace did not apply to small drones like the ones that Deutsche Bahn plans to use, as long as they are flown over the company’s property and within sight of the operators. | Elmar Giemulla, a professor of law at Berlin’s Technical University who specializes in air traffic issues, said the debate over airspace did not apply to small drones like the ones that Deutsche Bahn plans to use, as long as they are flown over the company’s property and within sight of the operators. |
| Like it or not, he said, drones, at least in their smaller size, appear to be here to stay in Germany. Last year, laws were adopted to regulate them, and the police already rely on their use to patrol large sporting events and street protests, Mr. Giemulla said. | Like it or not, he said, drones, at least in their smaller size, appear to be here to stay in Germany. Last year, laws were adopted to regulate them, and the police already rely on their use to patrol large sporting events and street protests, Mr. Giemulla said. |
| “I think that Germans are going to get used to small drones and the advantages that they can bring,” he added. | “I think that Germans are going to get used to small drones and the advantages that they can bring,” he added. |
| Tell that to the graffitists. | Tell that to the graffitists. |