The Good Drone

How Social Movements Democratize Surveillance

Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick

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English

MIT Press
28 July 2020

Sociology; Warfare & defence; Impact of science & technology on society

How small-scale drones, satellites, kites, and balloons are used by social movements for the greater good.

How small-scale drones, satellites, kites, and balloons are used by social movements for the greater good.

Drones are famous for doing bad things- weaponized, they implement remote-control war; used for surveillance, they threaten civil liberties and violate privacy. In The Good Drone, Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick examines a different range of uses- the deployment of drones for the greater good. Choi-Fitzpatrick analyzes the way small-scale drones-as well as satellites, kites, and balloons-are used for a great many things, including documenting human rights abuses, estimating demonstration crowd size, supporting anti-poaching advocacy, and advancing climate change research. In fact, he finds, small drones are used disproportionately for good; nonviolent prosocial uses predominate.

Choi-Fitzpatrick's broader point is that the use of technology by social movements goes beyond social media-and began before social media. From the barricades in Les Miserables to hacking attacks on corporate servers to the spread of the #MeToo hashtag on Twitter, technology is used to raise awareness, but is also crucial in raising the cost of the status quo.

New technology in the air changes politics on the ground, and raises provocative questions along the way. What is the nature and future of the camera, when it is taken out of human hands? How will our ideas about privacy evolve when the altitude of a penthouse suite no longer guarantees it? Working at the leading edge of an emerging technology, Choi-Fitzpatrick takes a broad view, suggesting social change efforts rely on technology in new and unexpected ways.

By: Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 203mm, Width: 137mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 357g
ISBN: 9780262538886
ISBN 10: 0262538881
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 28 July 2020
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Inactive

Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick is Associate Professor of Political Sociology at the Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego and concurrent Rights Lab Associate Professor of Social Movements and Human Rights at the University of Nottingham's School of Sociology and Social Policy.

Reviews for The Good Drone: How Social Movements Democratize Surveillance

The Good Drone's very engaging, accessible, and timely account of the importance of material, not just digital, technologies to social movements, is a mustread for anyone interested in understanding how technologies present new opportunities and perils for protesters. -Jennifer Earl, sociologist and coauthor of Digitally Enabled Social Change ChoiFitzpatrick brings deep thought and research together with years of practical experience in writing this insightful account of technology's effects on politics and politics' effects on technology. -Steven Livingston, Director of the Institute for Data, Democracy, and Politics, George Washington University