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I love the progress drones have given our society. From surveying property to beautiful aerial views in a video to cool view of your kids soccer game to just pl

I love the progress drones have given our society. From surveying property to beautiful aerial views in a video to cool view of your kids soccer game to just plain fun. Drones are amazing. You can buy a great drone and get amazing shots over and over for less than it would cost to hire a helicopter once. However, they also pose a risk. I'd favor a simple registration process and clear cut rules that are not infringing on the use of drones. I'd like to see the registration used mostly to enforce the rules and track a drone back to its owner. Ideally, drones should also broadcast its ID, so it's easy for other pilots to know they're in the area and also allow LEO to ticket/fine for offences. Without a broadcasting ID, most of these rules will be hard to enforce.

striking 11y ago
But then again, what if people start harvesting people's identities from the drones through the identifier? I think it's a neat idea, but it straddles the 4th Amendment line and could potentially expose your identity to people who don't like drones.
- objclxt 11y ago
  ...really? Because both aircraft and road vehicles today have identifiers painted or printed on them. What about driving around with a license plate or flying with a tail number? What's the difference?
  - striking 11y ago
    It would make sense to expose an identifier, rather than the person's identity. I may have misunderstood the comment.
    - shoegumfoot 11y ago
      Would it be correct to think that you would be shocked to learn that the FAA has a publicly-accessible aircraft registration database? http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Inquiry.aspx http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Inquiry.aspx
  - themartorana 11y ago
    Aircraft and cars kill people daily. Constantly. Cars more. Aircraft sometimes more tragically.
- mschuster91 11y ago
  Well if you're flying a real plane or copter, you have its registration number widely visible. No difference there.
- Spooky23 11y ago
  You don't have a right to privacy in public spaces. You can be a weirdo and wear a baclava and only travel by foot or use cash to use public transit, but that behavior in itself de-anonymizes you.
  - jnbiche 11y ago
    Yum, baclava! Or perhaps you're thinking of a "balaclava"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balaclava_(clothing) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balaclava_(clothing)
    - Spooky23 11y ago
      Haha autocorrect strikes again! Walking around with baclava would make you popular if you shared though!
  - resoluteteeth 11y ago
    > You can be a weirdo and wear a [balaclava] That's actually illegal in Virginia: http://law.justia.com/codes/virginia/2006/toc1802000/18.2-422.html http://law.justia.com/codes/virginia/2006/toc1802000/18.2-42...
ctdonath 11y ago
What is registration supposed to do? Broadly, those who will register are responsible enough to not be a problem, those idiots you want to control won't register, and it all just ends up mostly harassing the wrong people. Have and enforce laws against bad behavior, yes, but stop this "guilty until proven innocent" nonsense.
- objclxt 11y ago
  Would you apply the same logic to cars? Because I think all of your points apply equally to cars, but nobody seems to object to the idea of both registering them and requiring a license to drive.
  - Malstrond 11y ago
    Only if you drive them on public roads. So maybe not a public road -> airspace below a certain height?
  - ctdonath 11y ago
    Yes. Make driver education mandatory in public school. A vehicle tag should simply identify the vehicle out of a sea of mixed clones (a la: which blue Mustang?). I actually think the U.S. Founding Fathers would have enumerated a "right to vehicular travel" if they had conceived of license-as-a-privilege restriction on horseless carriages.
    - krasin 11y ago
      >Yes. Make driver education mandatory in public school. This is not a good time investment for children, given that not all of them will drive. Especially, considering that driverless cars are coming soon.
      - ctdonath 11y ago
        It's a few hours' training to teach a basic skill most of them will use (along with all the other "not all of them will use it" things they do or should learn). Those who don't formally learn will still likely end up behind a wheel anyway, documented or not - and it's those non-documented ones who are precisely the ones we particularly DO want to ensure are trained one way or another.

striking 11y ago

But then again, what if people start harvesting people's identities from the drones through the identifier? I think it's a neat idea, but it straddles the 4th Amendment line and could potentially expose your identity to people who don't like drones.

objclxt 11y ago
...really? Because both aircraft and road vehicles today have identifiers painted or printed on them. What about driving around with a license plate or flying with a tail number? What's the difference?
- striking 11y ago
  It would make sense to expose an identifier, rather than the person's identity. I may have misunderstood the comment.
  - shoegumfoot 11y ago
    Would it be correct to think that you would be shocked to learn that the FAA has a publicly-accessible aircraft registration database? http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Inquiry.aspx http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Inquiry.aspx
- themartorana 11y ago
  Aircraft and cars kill people daily. Constantly. Cars more. Aircraft sometimes more tragically.
mschuster91 11y ago
Well if you're flying a real plane or copter, you have its registration number widely visible. No difference there.
Spooky23 11y ago
You don't have a right to privacy in public spaces. You can be a weirdo and wear a baclava and only travel by foot or use cash to use public transit, but that behavior in itself de-anonymizes you.
- jnbiche 11y ago
  Yum, baclava! Or perhaps you're thinking of a "balaclava"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balaclava_(clothing) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balaclava_(clothing)
  - Spooky23 11y ago
    Haha autocorrect strikes again! Walking around with baclava would make you popular if you shared though!
- resoluteteeth 11y ago
  > You can be a weirdo and wear a [balaclava] That's actually illegal in Virginia: http://law.justia.com/codes/virginia/2006/toc1802000/18.2-422.html http://law.justia.com/codes/virginia/2006/toc1802000/18.2-42...

ctdonath 11y ago

What is registration supposed to do? Broadly, those who will register are responsible enough to not be a problem, those idiots you want to control won't register, and it all just ends up mostly harassing the wrong people. Have and enforce laws against bad behavior, yes, but stop this "guilty until proven innocent" nonsense.

objclxt 11y ago
Would you apply the same logic to cars? Because I think all of your points apply equally to cars, but nobody seems to object to the idea of both registering them and requiring a license to drive.
- Malstrond 11y ago
  Only if you drive them on public roads. So maybe not a public road -> airspace below a certain height?
- ctdonath 11y ago
  Yes. Make driver education mandatory in public school. A vehicle tag should simply identify the vehicle out of a sea of mixed clones (a la: which blue Mustang?). I actually think the U.S. Founding Fathers would have enumerated a "right to vehicular travel" if they had conceived of license-as-a-privilege restriction on horseless carriages.
  - krasin 11y ago
    >Yes. Make driver education mandatory in public school. This is not a good time investment for children, given that not all of them will drive. Especially, considering that driverless cars are coming soon.
    - ctdonath 11y ago
      It's a few hours' training to teach a basic skill most of them will use (along with all the other "not all of them will use it" things they do or should learn). Those who don't formally learn will still likely end up behind a wheel anyway, documented or not - and it's those non-documented ones who are precisely the ones we particularly DO want to ensure are trained one way or another.