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FAA Says Ad-Bearing YouTube Drone Videos Constitute "Commercial Use"
schwit1 writes If you fly a drone and post footage on YouTube, you could end up with a letter from the Federal Aviation Administration. Earlier this week, the agency sent a legal notice to Jayson Hanes, a Tampa-based drone hobbyist who has been posting drone-shot videos online for roughly the last year. The FAA said that, because there are ads on YouTube, Hanes's flights constituted a commercial use of the technology subject to stricter regulations and enforcement action from the agency. It said that if he did not stop flying 'commercially,' he could be subject to fines or sanctions.
simply posting the video to youtube does not in and of itself, generate income.
Allowing youtube to monetize the video, and their subsequent royalty payment, DOES generate income.
The legal grey territory, would be with Youtube making money from videos (used to bring in users, who then view youtube only ads) of people's drone use. Youtube would then be generating income from private drine use, making it commercial, but not to the drone operators.
The proper remedy here, is to make youtube and other video sites not be able to collect income from uploaded videos of drone flight.
Not to penalize the drone operators, who simply want to share videos of drone flight with other enthusiasts, without a profit motive.