
Proposed Regulations for Drones Are Released - btiede
http://www.nytimes.com.proxy.parle.co/2015/11/24/technology/proposed-regulations-for-drones-are-released.html?ref=technology
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bigiain
Damn - "half a pound" is a fair bit lower than many people (me included) were
expecting. I'd been smugly assuming my sub 500g quads would be exempt (while
all the 1kg+ DJI gear wouldn't be).

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btiede
It does seem like they started with a very low weight. Looks like I'll have to
figure out how to make my hoverboard a lot lighter...

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mengjiang
"Under the proposal, most drone owners would have to register the machines
with the federal government, which would place the information in a national
database, the first such requirements." \----- I hope this doesn't mark the
death of the industry, although one could argue that cars went through the
same cycle.

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btiede
Good analogy with the auto industry. I don't think it will lead to the death
of the drone. In fact I don't think it really goes far enough. Registration
into such a database falls short of what some security experts agree is
appropriate, especially when you consider that people with malicious intent
are not going to register anyway. However, it is a necessary first step.

EDIT: 'many' changed to '_some_ security experts': Source is the NYT article
in the OP

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bigiain
Have you got any references to " … what many security experts agree is
appropriate"? Because I can't think of any plausible threat that a sub 1 pound
multicopter represents, that isn't already a treat from
kites/frisbees/skateboards/bicycles or many other things which are considered
perfectly acceptable and the risks of accidental injury or intentional misuse
aren't dealt with just fine under current society.

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btiede
I'd agree that drones, like the traditional toys you mention tend not to pose
a safety risk unless they bump into you. Kites/frisbees/skateboards etc.
typically don't carry cameras, however, whereas it's quite easy to equip a
small drone with one. Isn't it conceivable that a small drone equipped with a
camera could monitor a facility (prison/bank etc.) from above and uncover and
exploit security flaws that exist in that facility? I'm interested in hearing
your take on the issue of drone regulation though as I see from your profile
you are far more qualified to discuss it than I am. Edited the 'many' to
'some' in my earlier post. Source is the NYT article I posted.

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bigiain
I find the idea that drones with cameras are somehow a new surveillance risk
for "bad guys" a) prevalent, and b) bemusing. Probably 40% of the population
is currently carrying round an 8 or 12 (or more) megapixel camera all the
time. Nobody would bat an eyelid if you stood across the street from a bank
for 40mins with a iPhone pressed against your ear with the camera facing the
bank, or if you left a phone in a windscreen mount in a parking lot facing a
prison. Why would people wanting that bother learning how to use a drone?

For less than the price of a typical no-skill-required drone, you can go buy
one of these:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csp6asxf00o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csp6asxf00o)
(search for "Nikon P900" for many many more examples)

I'm not even sure any of my drones would be capable of getting out to take the
shots in the first 15-20 seconds of that video, then making it all the way
back to where the camera is. And those people have infinitely less chance of
noticing they're potentially being photographed than if I'm flying a drone
close enough to take those same shots. (And no, drone stabilisation - even
with high grade brushless camera gimbals - isn't _anything_ like steady enough
to use in conjunction with optics like that. Raytheon and General Dynamics can
probably get useable imgaery from 2000mm equivalent lenses on military grade
drones, but it's _way_ outside hobbyist or even small commercial photography
grade gear)

What makes a camera on a drone scary, but a $700 point-n-shoot not worth
worrying about?

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btiede
Thanks for your perspective on this.

|"Why would people wanting that bother learning how to use a drone?"

Good point. I suppose they might still gain some value from having the aerial
view as opposed to setting up multiple shots from cameras/phones on the
ground? Then again if, as you say, the shots from a small commercial aerial
drone are not clear because of stability issues etc., then it is pointless to
use one. Is drone camera stabilization getting better though, to the point
where it would be very easy to capture a good, high quality image from a
higher altitude even with a small drone in the near future and is that
something regulators should take into consideration now? How do you think the
drone industry should be regulated and what weight class(es) do you think it
these regulations should cover?

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bigiain
How much "extra data" do you suppose flying your own drone over, say, a prison
might get you - compared to scoping it out on Google maps/earth? My guess
(having looked at a lot of things I'm curious about fro above) is that it's a
vanishingly small amount of extra information for significant learning curve
and a not insignificant chance of discovery while launching/landing/flying the
drone.

As to regulation? Hard question to answer, but I find it hard to believe
treating everything from 1/2 a pound up to 55 pounds the same makes any sense
- consider what two orders of magnitude in weight means for motor vehicles.
300lb worth of motorcycle is treated differently to 3000lb worth of car, and
very differently again to 30,000lb worth of truck (or 30lb worth of bicycle).

I think there's an important difference between non-commercial and commercial
use of drones - I know when I'm flying for fun, there are conditions and
circumstances in which I choose not to fly, where it'd be way to easy to
accept additional risk as an aerial photographer if it meant getting "the
shot" and thereby earning the money.

I justify to myself that my small quads weigh less than a football, and I've
got control over them so I'm significantly less likely to hit somebody
accidentally. I've intentionally flown my quads into myself to see just how
much it'd hurt, and while I'm comfortable saying "I wasn't injured" I'm 100%
certain that the mother of a small child wouldn't see things the same way. It
kinda hurts, but at least with the plastic props it doesn't break the skin. (I
wouldn't do that with the carbon fibre props on, I'm too chicken for that...)

If _I_ were making the rules, I'd probably ignore anything under ~500g or 1lb,
they're no more dangerous that a skateboard in my opinion, and far less likely
to be used by creeps/crooks/terrorists than a cellphone camera. From maybe
500g up to somewhere around 2 or 3kg should be considered fundamentally
different, but still in the category of "potentially dangerous toy if misused"
\- perhaps treated similarly to a gocart or a dirtbike - if you want to own
and use one away from people, no problem, but if you want to ride your
dirtbike around town it's gonna need lights/rego/insurance. Once you get up
towards 5g or more, you're getting up to where I'd also like to see operators
to have demonstrated some basic training/understanding of the risks and an
acknowledgement that they understand and accept responsibility for them - I'm
thinking along the lines of ham radio operators license here - you'd need to
read some theory, sit an exam, but mostly you'd lose the "I didn't know it was
dangerous" excuse.

That's almost certainly not "good enough" to work out properly in a lawyer-
happy no-universal-healthcare society though. Which is sad (both for US based
drone hobbyists, as well as those of us from elsewhere who's local laws are
very likely to be heavily based on US laws...)

(Note: from a non US point of view, I find it astounding that "drones need
regulating", but it's a fundamental human right to buy an assault rifle at a
gun show with no paperwork. The perspective and risks and responses seem all
way out of whack from half a planet away. Not saying "all guns are bad", but
surely "very few drones are as dangerous as an AR47" is unambiguously true...)

