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FAA Admits Names & Addresses In Drone Registry Will Be Publicly Available (forbes.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the open-book dept.

Lauren Weinstein sends word about this admission by the FAA that has led many to have concerns about privacy. Forbes reports: "The FAA finally confirmed this afternoon that model aircraft registrants’ names and home addresses will be public. In an email message, the FAA stated: 'Until the drone registry system is modified, the FAA will not release names and address. When the drone registry system is modified to permit public searches of registration numbers, names and addresses will be revealed through those searches.'"

4 of 300 comments (clear)

  1. I "was" all for this by TheRealQuestor · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As a multirotor pilot I have have really had no qualms about this, right up until now. Now there is no way in hell I am going to sign up for this. I'll instead toss another 50 dollars to the AMA and hopefully THEY can inject some sanity into this mess.

  2. Er... What's wrong with this exactly? by Etcetera · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't know... Maybe I'm coming at this from a different perspective, but as a HAM radio operator, my base station address (and home address) is public information, and is easily searchable by call sign. If you want to use a public resource, whether airwaves or airspace, you need to be traceable. That's, in fact, the entire point.

    Put another way, the privacy implications of having untraceable drones outweigh the privacy implications of being able to track down who's controlling them.

    --
    Hire a Linux system administrator, systems engineer,
    1. Re:Er... What's wrong with this exactly? by RubberDogBone · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In the state where I reside, it costs only 50 cents to get the tag info. Literally all you need is the tag number and change and they will happily give you a whole print out of the vehicle stats including VIN, the taxes paid on said vehicle, the insurance company and policy number and of course the name, address and phone number of the registered owner.

      So when you see that hottie in traffic and want to get to know them, just snap their tag and take some quarters to the DMV office.

      --
      Sig for hire.
  3. Re:the facts speak for themselves. by bongey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    1) The FAA is violating the law pass by congress. FAA act of 2012 Sec 336 http://www.modelaircraft.org/f...
    2)The Supreme Court says they can't regulated it. United_States v Causby ruling is still legally binding to the FAA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    The law is not on the FAA side, this is going strait to court.