Drones Here, There and Everywhere Introduction and Overview

Abstract

This chapter provides an introduction to this book and an overview of all chapters. Given the popularity of drones and the fact that many of them are easy and cheap to buy, it is generally expected that the ubiquity of drones will significantly increase within the next few years. This raises questions as to what is technologically feasible (now and in the future), what is acceptable from an ethical point of view and what is allowed from a legal point of view. Drone technology is to some extent already available to consumers and more drone technologies are expected to become available to consumers in the near future. The aim and scope of this book: to map the opportunities and threats associated with the use of drones and to discuss the ethical and legal issues of the use of drones. Since drones have many names, including UAVs, UASs and RPASs, the terminology used is explained. This chapter concludes with an overview of the structure of this book, containing chapters on drone technology, the opportunities and threats of drone use, ethical and legal issues concerning the use of drones and potentials solutions for these issues.