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The 'Day of Drones' Gave Me a Glimpse into a Future Without Privacy

How an event about drone racing offered an unsettling, if unintentional, perspective on surveillance.
Photos by the author

In 5th grade, I was crazy about spy gear. Fifth grade me would've loved drones. Adult me loves drones, too, actually. But adult me has some real misgivings about them—or, certain aspects anyway.

I had my first up-close-and-personal experience with them at a drone-themed party earlier this month. It comprised a panel discussion on drone racing, a mini-ramp for skateboarders, free wine and hors d'oeuvres, and the one and only Ghostface Killah on the mic; all under the banner of an energy drink-styled extreme sports event called #DayOfDrones. In the midst of a confused but trendy crowd were a few of the drone racers themselves, hidden behind VR-like goggles as they piloted their tiny, bird-sized drones above and between the socialites. It's pretty common to see footage from drones all over the web—in music videos, skate videos, and even mural videos—but having them film me offered a new perspective.

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These little floating cameras were both really fun and also really creepy at the same time. They moved with the accuracy and size of a hummingbird, easily creeping up behind you—you wouldn't even realize you were on TV until you saw yourself projected onto the wall above, for all to see, via a glitched-out and grainy live feed.

At one point, a drone hovered in a circle around my face, its mischievous pilot provoking a response from me from another room. I jumped a little but laughed about it. It was, after all, The Day Of Drones, and to do otherwise seemed just a little uptight. And yet, despite this, I still saw people swatting them away. It was hard to not be caught off-guard because they were so stealthy by nature.

Ostensibly, the Bushwick event was meant to draw attention to the sport of drone racing, familiarizing the masses with the concept in hopes of commercial franchising. In some aspects, it did just that; the panel was interesting, the obstacle course setup intriguing, with an atomic green light throwing huge shadows all around. And the drones were cute, like any pet that size would be, especially when immobile, perched on a table, and watching in silence.

But the crowd mostly ended up drifting to the bar, their din making the panelists hard to hear towards the end. And apparently it was too windy to fly the course; so instead the drones just zoomed around the room, through doorways and over bannisters.

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Instead, the lasting impression was of a world in which cameras can hover around you without your knowledge. It's not entirely different from the threat posed by creeps filming strangers on the train, or the invasive nature of most party photography—and that's not to say the footage didn't look great. Seeing live footage of a professional dancer doing the Harlem Shake while a camera floated in circles around him was novel and cinematic. And strapping those goggles on, which they also let us do, revealed the draw for the pilots themselves, making me even more sympathetic for their cause.

But the fact that, even at an event where the word "drone" was spray painted in neon colors all over the place, people were still swatting at them, proved there's an unsettling edge to this new technology. Something about eyes in the skies might always be a little creepy. That doesn't, however, mean there's not a place for them—we just need to settle on when and where that space is. Races are one thing, but a party is another.

Click here to learn about The Day of Drones.

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