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I think there should be a centralized tracking system for drones, and each drone should have a unique cryptographic identifier, so you always know who made the

I think there should be a centralized tracking system for drones, and each drone should have a unique cryptographic identifier, so you always know who made the drone and who owned it. Then, while you still won't be able to stop assassinations and such, just like you can't stop them now anyway, you can at least know who did it, and punish them afterwards.

MHordecki 12y ago
How would you make sure this cryptographic identifier cannot be tampered with?
deelowe 12y ago
Huh? What makes you think criminals will be sure to use a drone with such an ID system? There are no unique parts to a drone. Other than the motor controller and motors, it's mostly cellphone parts. Motors and controller have several other applications.
- Drakim 12y ago
  Drones that fail to ID themselves will be shot down on sight.
  - yeahsure 12y ago
    You could always spoof the ID so that kinda defeats the purpose.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
    - drewbug 12y ago
      Maybe have each drone regularly broadcast their GPS's most recent NMEA sentence (latitude, longitude, timestamp, altitude, etc.) signed with their public key? That's what came up with after thinking about it for a bit. There's probably a better solution out there.
    - Drakim 12y ago
      Pretty sure we have solved this problem, since we use HTTPS
  - baddox 12y ago
    Thus guaranteeing that unregistered drones are dangerous.
    - dzhiurgis 12y ago
      Who cares? Are you suggesting setting up an agency that monitors 'airspace' (I wouldn't call area 20 meters above ground an airspace)? I don't want my drone to be seen at the moment of crime anyway. Don't like drone in front of you? Accidentally throw a piece of string on it.
jkaljundi 12y ago
That's like asking for every gun or knife to have a unique cryptographic identifier.
- drewbug 12y ago
  Guns and knives aren't (usually) electronics.
  - solistice 12y ago
    And guns have serial numbers and records to trace their purchase, right?
dragonwriter 12y ago
> Then, while you still won't be able to stop assassinations and such, just like you can't stop them now anyway, you can at least know who did it Even if you get criminals to comply as far as only operating drones with proper IDs, so that you can trace the legal purchase history of a drone, that doesn't mean you know who used the drone. Drones and their supporting control equipment can be stolen (and the owners prevented by force from reporting the theft) and people willing to commit assassination by drone certainly wouldn't be unwilling to commit theft, kidnapping, and/or murder of drone owners to acheive that.
jjwiseman 12y ago
The FAA has just this week said that drones flying under a COA will be required to have an N-number: http://www.uasvision.com/2014/09/25/faa-issues-requirement-for-all-uas-to-show-aircraft-registration-number http://www.uasvision.com/2014/09/25/faa-issues-requirement-f...
baddox 12y ago
Do you expect to be able to regulate the electronics industry that tightly? You'd need some universal DRM system implemented in every accelerometer, GPS module, electric motor, and microcontroller.
JoeAltmaier 12y ago
There's little to prevent construction of unlicensed drones. Like they say, make operating drones illegal, and only criminals will have drones. And they can be made simply with mail-order parts. Probably we're just going to have to get used to drones being around. Like we got used to cities and crowds on public streets and horseless carriages. This paranoia about drones will be seen by future historians as quaint.

MHordecki 12y ago

How would you make sure this cryptographic identifier cannot be tampered with?

deelowe 12y ago

Huh? What makes you think criminals will be sure to use a drone with such an ID system? There are no unique parts to a drone. Other than the motor controller and motors, it's mostly cellphone parts. Motors and controller have several other applications.

Drakim 12y ago
Drones that fail to ID themselves will be shot down on sight.
- yeahsure 12y ago
  You could always spoof the ID so that kinda defeats the purpose.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - drewbug 12y ago
    Maybe have each drone regularly broadcast their GPS's most recent NMEA sentence (latitude, longitude, timestamp, altitude, etc.) signed with their public key? That's what came up with after thinking about it for a bit. There's probably a better solution out there.
  - Drakim 12y ago
    Pretty sure we have solved this problem, since we use HTTPS
- baddox 12y ago
  Thus guaranteeing that unregistered drones are dangerous.
  - dzhiurgis 12y ago
    Who cares? Are you suggesting setting up an agency that monitors 'airspace' (I wouldn't call area 20 meters above ground an airspace)? I don't want my drone to be seen at the moment of crime anyway. Don't like drone in front of you? Accidentally throw a piece of string on it.

jkaljundi 12y ago

That's like asking for every gun or knife to have a unique cryptographic identifier.

drewbug 12y ago
Guns and knives aren't (usually) electronics.
- solistice 12y ago
  And guns have serial numbers and records to trace their purchase, right?

dragonwriter 12y ago

> Then, while you still won't be able to stop assassinations and such, just like you can't stop them now anyway, you can at least know who did it Even if you get criminals to comply as far as only operating drones with proper IDs, so that you can trace the legal purchase history of a drone, that doesn't mean you know who used the drone. Drones and their supporting control equipment can be stolen (and the owners prevented by force from reporting the theft) and people willing to commit assassination by drone certainly wouldn't be unwilling to commit theft, kidnapping, and/or murder of drone owners to acheive that.

jjwiseman 12y ago

The FAA has just this week said that drones flying under a COA will be required to have an N-number: http://www.uasvision.com/2014/09/25/faa-issues-requirement-for-all-uas-to-show-aircraft-registration-number http://www.uasvision.com/2014/09/25/faa-issues-requirement-f...

baddox 12y ago

Do you expect to be able to regulate the electronics industry that tightly? You'd need some universal DRM system implemented in every accelerometer, GPS module, electric motor, and microcontroller.

JoeAltmaier 12y ago

There's little to prevent construction of unlicensed drones. Like they say, make operating drones illegal, and only criminals will have drones. And they can be made simply with mail-order parts. Probably we're just going to have to get used to drones being around. Like we got used to cities and crowds on public streets and horseless carriages. This paranoia about drones will be seen by future historians as quaint.