Shoplifters could soon be chased down by drones | Hacker News Reader

Shoplifters could soon be chased down by drones

technologyreview.com

25 pointssigna1118 comments

As someone who has never shoplifted in my life, this makes me deeply uncomfortable.

If it's acceptable for a business to use drones to tail a (suspected) shoplifter, what stops a business from using them to tail a regular customer to collect marketing data?

What if I am curious where someone I work with lives, is it OK to use a drone to follow them home?

I would argue that it's obviously not OK but it seems like there is no law against this in the US unless you have a restraining order, perhaps.

Read up on the company behind this (Flock Safety). Their entire mission is to set up a surveillence state in the USA.

At least in the short term, I think the economics will prevent stores from using this for marketing data. Operating these drones has to very, very expensive and I don't think knowing about your driving habits for a few miles is worth the cost.

The only reason these things could be economical in the short term is because theft costs retail companies an insanely high amount of money.

However, this might change if these drones become cheaper to operate and purchase.

I would think there's some crime that would prevent people from using these to the extremes. I am almost certain it's illegal to put an air tag on someone to track their whereabouts and I would also think those laws would apply here.

> What stops a business from using them to tail a regular customer to collect marketing data?

I wonder if anyone's considered starting a business of leasing space on urban roofs and building facades, installing cameras, and then selling the footage of all the foot traffic. Sounds a lot easier than drones.

So you mean Flock? Except even better, people pay them to install the cameras.

Flock is the company behind the drones in this article, so we've come full circle.

Since the time I was 15 or 16, I have been regularly targeted by loss prevention as a potential threat. To this day, 30y later, it's become a running joke w/my kids about when we'll be 'bothered', stopped, or outright harassed by employees (plain clothed or uniformed) for doing nothing other than shopping in a way that is somehow different than they expect.

I have never shoplifted, but yet, here we are. While it's a mild annoyance to be stopped and asked if I need any help by two retail employees alongside a uniformed LPP (I refuse to call them officers) or asked to produce a receipt--even if we're just browsing to kill time and I didn't buy anything, now I may be pursued by a fucking drone because some algorithm or human operator has decided I'm somehow doing something they don't like?

I am genuinely terrified.

It’s still limited by the local government’s willingness to pursue and prosecute these types of crimes

How long until drones are permitted to take physical action on violent perps? And how long until they look like [1]?

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEby9OkePpg [video][3:33 mins][warning: contains Tom Cruise]

The police somewhere are probably already using them to spray pepper spray.

I bet if you shoot their drone it's "attempted murder of an officer" or whatever just like it is for the dogs.

I googled "Pepper Spray Drones" and this was the first result, peak USA:

https://dronelife.com/2025/04/01/pepper-spray-drones-in-scho...

Nice. That could have mitigated some of the recent roof shooters and could have obtained higher resolution footage of the roof shooters and decoys at UVU in Utah.

Obvious problem: Drones typically don't have long-lasting batteries.

And, it seems relatively easy to travel out of range longer and/or faster than it can fly or go somewhere flying drones can't follow like into a closed structure or underground area.

Seems like a gimmick to sell to corporate customers.

I have shoplifted once in my whole life as a hazing ritual for my fraternity. I’m shocked at how law abiding I am.

In general I'm a big fan of incorporating drones and cameras into crime fighting techniques. It's safer and cheaper for the general public, law enforcement, and the criminals themselves. For example for retail thieves (the article's use case), or for car thieves and street racers, don't need to have a high speed chase anymore. Follow the car around until a trap can be set or it parks at the criminal's house.

If this means that I no longer have to wait around for five minutes to have a supermarket employee unlock the laundry detergent, then I approve. Yes, there are privacy concerns, but I care more about law and order at this point.

Going to start doing all my shopping via drone.

Good way to get free drones.

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