In a recent story from the BBC, authorities in Mumbai, India are investigating a pizza delivery made to a skyscraper via a remote-controlled drone. Apparently the restaurant has begun using drones for pizza delivery without letting the authorities know. Francesco’s Pizzeria says the delivery was successful to the building about 1 mile (1.5km) away. Mumbai is infamous for terrible traffic jams so the restaurant argues that drones would be a green solution that would also save time.

City authorities are investigating whether or not Francesco’s asked permission from the civil aviation authorities. "As per norms, permission must be taken for flying any such object," an air traffic control official says. According to a local police chief, “We are very sensitive towards anything that flies in the sky with the help of remote control." 

Understandably, Indian security is wary about the possibility of terrorist attacks via drones or paragliders. Although Francesco’s assures authorities the drone experiments are safe, how are authorities to know that, without proper communication and warning of the flights? According to one source the drone never flew above 400ft (130m) in order to avoid interfering with other air traffic and the unit was never out of the complete control of the controller. 

Drones aren’t new, since last year Amazon has been testing unmanned drones to be used for deliveries but they’ve said it could take up to five years before the service would actually start. The sad news and harsh reality is that one day sooner than later there will be drones flying above our heads in plain view on a regular basis. We will not know who is in control of them or what their true propose is…and there is not a thing we can do about it!

Think drones are ‘cool’? Excited about opening your door to accept a pizza from a drone? Think again, hard, about the potential of drones overhead… The technical name for a drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle or UAV for short, however if you are paying attention you might hear other names for drones…’killer drones,’ ‘attack drones,’ ‘spy drones’ and ‘surveillance drones.’ That’s right, like so many modern inventions these UAVs were not invented for their green, convenient uses to the public, their past has been one of invasive force and spying. While there is an argument that drones are better since militaries are using them rather than humans for warfare, there are many flaws to this thinking…for one thing these drones can be taken over by the enemy. Although security measures are in place to avoid such an occurrence the possibility will always exist. Further, we don’t always know who the ‘enemy’ is and it is often the people we are told to trust.

Our privacy is already being invaded by the drones we are unable to see flying high above us; if we are being made to believe that the use of drones will be greener and more convenient for us all then we will no longer question the fleets of drones that will soon be flying over our heads…we will simply accept them, shady motives and all. But then isn’t that what our government wants?