Illegal Sports Surveillance By Drones Is Inevitable – Forbes

What is the connection between the two sentences below?

• “ Insect-size drones are busily being developed Insect-size drones are busily being developed .”
• “Professional sports are highly competitive.”

The first quote is from a recent Wall Street Journal article by Gabriella Blum and Benjamin Wittes. The second is my statement of the obvious. The connection, if nowhere else but in my mind, is that eventually a professional sports team or major college will essentially say:

“It sure would help us win if we knew the special plays the opponent is scheming against us next week.”

Then sooner or later a coach on the edge of what’s authorized will have an unspoken winked agreement with a developer to have a dragon-fly-sized drone that makes its way into the practice facility of say the New England Patriots. It enters the door just like a player. It finds its way to where computers screens and white boards are located. It records audio, visual and electronic data.

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SOPHIE ESTIENNE Technology journalist Tim Stenovec controls a Parrot Minidrone ‘Rolling Spider’ during a demonstration June 10, 2014 in New York. The small consumer drone Rolling Spider will fly like a helicopter and is controlled by a smartphone. The Jumping Sunmo rolls on wheels and will jump 2.5 feet (76 cm) off a hard surface and can be controlled by a mini tablet computer. AFP PHOTO/Stan HONDA (Photo credit should read STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)

Far-fetched you say? Do you trust the Wall Street Journal? If so, consider the comment of their investigative reporters in the above-referenced article:

“Insect-sized drones are busily being developed throughout…academic facilities and be private firms. (Italics added)…Slightly larger drones are widely available for purchase on the open market, some already rigged with cameras.”

I have no doubt that there are eager young geeky sports-crazed entrepreneurs willing to develop and make money from such devices. They come may come in the form of a graduate student who takes research to a new twisted direction. It may be a private company wanting to establish a twisted relationship with a graduate assistant who desperately wants to impress the coaching staff with his knowledge of offensive schemes so he can get that next assistant coach position.

Sports drone warfare is essentially unregulated. There is no NCAA prohibition on the use of drones by the sports programs of its member institutions. There is no collective bargaining agreement by any of the major US professional sports leagues that specifically prohibits the use of drones. Of course there are broad provisions in the CBAs against stealing team secrets. But someone has to get caught first. That would be the drone developer or surrogate. And then there would have to be proof of association or agent capacity with a particular team. Some may consider this a worthwhile risk.