By the time you are reading this, a private, Christian company whose business model relies on flying drones over your house, may already be watching you.
Despite community backlash, today marks the formal launch of SMS Novel’s surveillance drones in the city of St. Louis.
SMS Novel, a drone surveillance company that markets itself on X (formerly known as Twitter) as specializing in interactive Christian films, announced it would launch its drones in St. Louis on February 5.
The company says it’s launching a surveillance model in 25 cities in 10 countries— including Atlanta, Los Angeles, Memphis, New Orleans and New York City — that gives subscribers access to live drone feeds over their communities.
“The goal of drone-stream TV is to showcase each city’s beauty, while also being a means of communal security. Viewers can tune in daily to watch live-streams of various parts of the city,” the company previously wrote on X.
The company’s website says subscribers will be able to access footage from the drones in St. Louis from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. EST each day. The streaming service also allows viewers to request that the drones fly to specific locations.