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The Problem With Mandatory Drone Registration (roboticstrends.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the poking-holes dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Drone lawyer and commercial pilot Jonathan Rupprecht believes any drone registration plan is a necessary first step, but he's also doubtful that registering drones will be a valuable solution. "Who is going to regulate this? Point-of-sale? Wal-Mart? Best Buy?" he asked. "What if I'm ordering parts off the Internet and put them together? That's what the gun industry does." A registration number, he said, could quickly be lost if a drone is bought and sold multiple times. Rupprecht believes geofencing will produce far better results by preventing problems as opposed to trying to figure out who is responsible after something has happened.

3 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. Re: License Plates and registrations ... by Kichigai+Mentat · · Score: 5, Insightful
    It's not supposed to stop criminals from doing illegal things. It's supposed to make sure the vast majority of people flying quadcopters don't unintentionally do something illegal by forcing them to read the relevant regulations, and provide a way to hold people accountable if they do not act legally.

    Just like drivers and vehicle licences. Those regulations don't stop people from operating a vehicle illegally, but it does provide a system to punish people who do.

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    Rawr
  2. Re: License Plates and registrations ... by Tailhook · · Score: 5, Insightful

    they don't stop criminals

    You're right; criminals will do as they will and they won't hesitate to file a number off their drones any more than they do their guns.

    However, I have noted that the headlines involving drones are frequently not hardened criminals attempting to facilitate some criminal enterprise. They're knucklehead schoolteachers, government bureaucrats and doctors at the US Open or some football game trying to video the events and post it on facetoob or whatever.

    When pulled up on their recklessness they plead ignorance and seem to have trouble understanding why they shouldn't be permitted to fly their toy over a huge crowd of people. The former part of that is an act to weasel out of consequences. The later part will be mitigated to some degree by making it clear to these entitled assholes that their names on file.

    If that cuts the frequency of headlines about idiots using their excessive disposable income to interfere with air tankers around forest fires then great.

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    Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
  3. and register binoculars. and cameras. and eyes by raymorris · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You're so right. For the same reason, we need a federal licensing regime for owning binoculars. And cameras. And eyes.

    Come to think of it, we've already HAVE privacy laws. Because we already have eyes.