(Started with a simple reply then got carried away!)
Reading about autonomous or remotely controlled robots or drones used for delivery can be interesting. For me, the question of privacy [of the individual person or group] is somewhat intriguing. The argument oft given in defence of privacy violation is the same or very similar to that given when discussing private home or business surveillance cameras or those used by officialdom such as the police or highways monitors (such as local councils [UK]) - “If you are doing / have done nothing wrong you have nothing to worry about / no 'dog in the fight' [as it were].”. The counter to this being on the lines of “There is no reason to use surveillance on a private person or group innocently conducting their 'business' in a manner that is not illegal or harmful to themselves or others.” The debate over privacy in this manner rages on and is much better argued by the many more intelligent than me.
There is the idea that, in the UK at least, any private citizen can legally photograph anything in public that they wish. Problems only arise if the photographer points the camera into a private residence, business or other non-public area. Of course, pointing your camera deliberately at another person and photographing them or not can cause many difficulties relating to consent, perceived data protection breaches, child protection issues and so much more.
I once photographed a bridge in the distance with a telephoto lens, where my view crossed a field with horses in it. I did not point the camera at the horses at all. An irate woman came at me [she was previously out of my sight] and tried to snatch my camera and accused me of photographing the horses to sell on for criminal purposes. Long story short: I was accosted by the woman, a younger woman and a very large brutish man who try to take a swipe at me and a passing police officer happening by got involved. After voluntarily showing the police officer the images I had taken [digital] the officer pointed out to the trio that I had done nothing wrong. The pictures were of a public area taken from the public highway, there were no horses in my pictures and the field was not even in the picture. The brutish man made a lunge for me / the camera again and was warned by the officer not to do so. On leaving the scene, the officer did warn me to be careful / discreet but affirmed I had done nothing wrong.
The main problems with these delivery devices do not seem to be that the cameras are used, or even recording. Instead, the issues appear to be with how the recordings are used and whether the recordings should be shared with police on request to help determine if a crime has been committed and identify criminals. Or should the recordings be routinely / systematically given to the police regardless of any or no crime. This is compounded by the devices being owned by a private company. Many people, seemingly, are inclined to think on the lines of 'Why the hell is this private company recording me, what are they using the data for and why the hell am I being presumed guilty of… what ever.'. Rather, the businesses will proclaim that the cameras are primarily used for directional and object sensing purposes and recording the delivery only. Any person or thing caught on the recording other than for these purposes is captured incidentally. The use of these cameras is, rightly, concerning and needs talking about openly with the public as well as businesses and authorities.
Then we have the question of do the devices have or are they likely to get rights? [Some people are already anthropomorphising the devices, as can be seen online]. Should we move out of the way of some machine that is, as some might put it, cluttering the pavement? What about when such a device harms a human? Who takes responsibility for the device / human collision - the human or the operator or the business that owns the device? How about jobs being lost to these devices - or gained because of them? (Are we to be labelled as Luddites for raising concerns about these devices?) There are, I'm sure many more questions / concerns and these also require talking about openly and sensibly.
It's a 'The machines are taking over' conspiracy, surely.
To close;
I just saw an advert online for the latest Dr Who episodes and was reminded of a question / answer(s) in a way I found amusing due to the connection with this subject! How do you immobilise a Dalek? Simply throw a cloth over its optical sensors. (Or put some stairs in its way - pre levitation device.)
