Interesting People mailing list archives

Re Don’t shoot down our drones


From: "Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>
Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2018 15:00:02 +0900




Begin forwarded message:

From: Geoff Kuenning <geoff () cs hmc edu>
Date: September 12, 2018 at 2:57:57 PM GMT+9
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Re Don’t shoot down our drones

We don't need new laws, we just need to understand the existing ones.

The laws on photography in the U.S. are clear: you can't take pictures of people in situations where they have a 
reasonable expectation of privacy.  Mary certainly has a reasonable expectation of privacy in her home, at windows 
facing her back yard.  She also has a reasonable expectation that people won't use telephoto lenses to photograph 
things that they couldn't see with the naked eye.

The place where (I believe) the rules are fuzzy right now is with overflights, such as helicopters shooting celebrity 
weddings. Since we have people on this list with more legal expertise and resources than I have, I'll decline to 
opine on that point.

Begin forwarded message:

From: Mary Shaw <mary.shaw () gmail com>
Date: September 12, 2018 at 11:47:33 GMT+9
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: [IP] Don’t shoot down our drones
A different view on the situation -- the issue is not the drones,
it's the access and the photography.
I think it's deplorable that drones are not banned from private
property.  If someone is flying a drone in my back yard looking into
my windows, I can apparently get arrested for capturing or disabling
it.  This seems to be a quirk of legacy airspace restrictions that
have not been thoughtfully revisited with drones in mind.
So I'm all for government transparency, and perhaps we need
legislation providing access to government facilities to the press.
But drones are poorly regulated and what regulations do exist are
not enforced.  So it's ok with me if we get legislation restricting
where drones can go, IF AND ONLY IF those protections are available
to everyone.  I object in general, as well as in this instance, to
my government exempting itself from rules that apply to everyone
else.
We should get this worked out before there's a steady stream of
delivery drones shortcutting through my yard.
In other words, they should set some sensible restrictions on where
drones can fly -- and apply those rules to everyone, everywhere.
They also need to provide access to government sites within
reasonable limits (no photography of minor children, security
mechanisms, classified materials, ...)
Mary
Mary Shaw
On Tue, Sep 11, 2018 at 7:32 PM DAVID FARBER <dfarber () me com> wrote:
Begin forwarded message:
From: Elliot Harmon | EFF Activism Team <action () eff org>
Date: September 12, 2018 at 7:55:01 AM GMT+9
To: dfarber () me com
Subject: Don’t shoot down our drones
Reply-To: Elliot Harmon | EFF Activism Team <action () eff org>
This is a friendly message from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
When government agencies hide their activities from the public,
private drones can be a crucial tool for transparency and
oversight. When the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) barred
photographs and videos of its controversial detention centers,
journalists were able to use drones to document abuses at those
sites.
But right now, some lawmakers are working to dismantle this
powerful reporting tool. A proposed law would give the DHS and the
Department of Justice the power to intercept and destroy private
drones it considers a “threat,” with no safeguards ensuring that
that power isn’t abused.
To make it worse, members of Congress are expected to vote on
these powers as part of a routine Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) reauthorization bill, with no chance for meaningful debate
on how best to limit the government’s authority to intercept or
destroy drones.
We can’t hand the right to take over or shoot down private drones
to the DHS and DOJ, offices that are already notorious for their
hostility to public oversight. Let’s tell Congress to reject the
FAA authorization bill unless these powers are stripped from it.
Don't give DHS and DOJ free reign to shoot down private drones
Thank you,
Elliot Harmon
Activism Team
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Support our work to defend free speech and transparency
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-- 
  Geoff Kuenning   geoff () cs hmc edu    http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~geoff/

The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing
that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot
possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to
get at or repair.
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