The Harare City Council has torched a privacy invasion storm after making a sensational announcement that they will soon be using drone surveillance technology to identify illegal structures erected in residential areas.
The announcement stirred rage amongst residents who responded to the council’s communique saying it was a move unfit to be implemented by an authority which has not achieved efficiency in service delivery yet. Many citizens also expressed concern over violation of privacy considering the levels of penetration achieved by using drones when surveying areas without proper legislation.
The public backlash forced the city council to reverse the immediate decision to implement drone surveillance technology for identifying illegal structures citing the concerns raised by the citizens over violation of privacy.
“We have no immediate plans to deploy use of drones for municipal services in Harare. Earlier communication on the subject was meant to gather public feeling and it has emerged that the use of the technology is not widely welcome by stakeholders.” wrote the Harare City Council on their official Facebook Page earlier today.
The use of drone surveillance technologies is now being implemented by developed countries to increase fortification of their borders and other critical complexes such as airports.
Drones are mini flying machines which are remote piloted to cover aerial distances and gather data through the use of advanced cameras which can capture action in live imagery and video footages.
However, the use of drone technologies needs proper legislation before implementation since there are a lot of security concerns around their deployment.
