(NaturalNews) More and more Americans are becoming leery of the ever-widening use of drones by federal agencies and domestic law enforcement, which is in and of itself disturbing, but increasingly, college students are beginning to get nervous over a rise in drone applications to the Federal Aviation Administration by universities.
As of this writing, more than 30 public universities have applied to the federal government for permits to operate drones, with more expected to apply in the coming months and years. Applicants include the Universities of Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin, according to records obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy rights organization.
According to the schools, most are seeking drones for "research purposes," though often colleges are vague about what that "research" will entail.
Drones to follow students?
"In general, when universities have applied for these … it's been research related," said Rebecca Jeschke, media relations director of EFF, in an interview with The Daily Caller. "It could mean everything from they have a program where they want to teach people how to build or fly drones, or wanting to fly the drones in order to gather research. To fly over an agricultural area, to fly off the coast to a place where it would be hard to get people to, to make some sort of wildlife assessment."
