ABSTRACT
Since the first years of the 21st century, Latin America, as most parts of the world, has witnessed the arrival of drones in public and private spheres; nowadays journalists, farmers, aficionados, and servicemen deploy these aircrafts for several purposes, without a deep understanding of the ethical and legal implications of these activities. Drones have become a handful of curious eyes from the sky, aircrafts that—in an Orwellian perspective—may control and monitor people or could enhance the pilot's vision and scopes to observe and modify realities. This dichotomy offers an ethical discussion regarding the role of these craft in order to create or recreate narratives and their relationship. Drones, equipped with high-definition lenses, may be considered a moving camera and their usages are closely related to dilemmas within image capturing process: constraints on filming and photographing unaware people and the subsequent narrative construction for eager audiences. This chapter intends to review perspectives on power, surveillance, privacy, and freedom, from the pilots, the device, and the observed agent standpoints. Drones may be seen as a cyborgist attempt to enhance human capabilities, but also as novelty devices within a complex social and cultural understanding of their role while they create a synthetic situation. This chapter aims to be an analysis to understand the research question: How much have ethical considerations shaped Latin America legislation on drone flights? Although research on drone legislation and ethical constraints have been carried out in American and South American spheres, a Latin American perspective is mandatory to reinforce the understanding on this technological and social phenomenon. This region of the world, a so called Third World land, may find clever uses for drones that promote changes in people's realities.
