Eric Schmidt: Regulate Civilian Drones Now

An anonymous reader writes "Google Chairman Eric Schmidt is urging lawmakers to regulate the use of unmanned aircraft by civilians — and quickly. He posed this hypothetical situation to The Guardian: 'You're having a dispute with your neighbor. How would you feel if your neighbor went over and bought a commercial observation drone that they can launch from their backyard. It just flies over your house all day. How would you feel about it?' Schmidt went on to bring up military and terrorist concerns. 'I'm not going to pass judgment on whether armies should exist, but I would prefer to not spread and democratize the ability to fight war to every single human being. It's got to be regulated... It's one thing for governments, who have some legitimacy in what they're doing, but have other people doing it... it's not going to happen.'"

Comments

Re: How would you feel about it?

[Frosty Piss]

That is a case I would love to take to court, and see the jury try to keep from laughing.

The jury can laugh all they want, but if the activity of your neighbor was LEGAL, and you in fact destroyed your neighbor's personal property while it was doing something LEGAL, the judge will most likely instruct the jury that you broke the law and are liable. Only judges make the law, juries follow the law.

I would be totally willing to testify in my own defense, and watch the other party try to come up with a reasonable explanation for what they were doing.

Your testimony will be that you broke the law. The other party does not need a defense as they did not break the law.

You need to rethink your position on this.