Principles for the socially responsible use of conservation monitoring technology and data

Wildlife conservation and research benefits enormously from automated interconnected monitoring tools. Some of these tools, such as drones, remote cameras, social media, can collect data on humans, either accidentally or deliberately. They therefore be thought surveillance technologies (CSTs). There is increasing evidence that CSTs, the they yield, have both positive negative impacts people, raising ethical questions about how to use them responsibly. CST may accelerate because COVID-19 pandemic, adding urgency addressing challenges. We propose a provisional set principles for responsible tools their data: (a) recognize acknowledge CSTs impacts; (b) deploy based necessity proportionality relative problem; (c) evaluate all potential people; (d) engage with seek consent people who observed and/or affected by CSTs; (e) build transparency accountability into use; (f) respect peoples' rights vulnerabilities; (g) protect in order safeguard privacy. These require testing could conceivably benefit efforts, especially through inclusion likely CSTs.