Senate Passes Bill That Allows Drones to be Shot Down

AlphaAtlas

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On Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed the FAA Reauthorization Act, which gives U.S. authorities the power to shoot down privately owned drones. While the bill is intended to protect aircraft from drones, the The ACLU told Techcrunch that “These provisions give the government virtually carte blanche to surveil, seize, or even shoot a drone out of the sky - whether owned by journalists or commercial entities - with no oversight or due process."

The EFF agreed, arguing the bill endangers the First and Fourth Amendment rights of freedom of speech and the protection from warrantless device seizures. "If lawmakers want to give the government the power to hack or destroy private drones, then Congress and the public should have the opportunity to debate how best to provide adequate oversight and limit those powers to protect our right to use drones for journalism, activism, and recreation," the EFF said.
 
PULL!

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This is one where I disagree with the EFF entirely. The government's ability to protect the airspace over my head and my property is something I'm not willing to limit.

Drones are a very new thing. We are no less free after this change than we were back in 1985 when we didn't have drones at all. People who fly drones in public areas and even private areas of others, putting others' safety and privacy at risk need to be dealt with.
 
Federal authorities would not need to first obtain a warrant, which rights groups say that authority could be easily abused, making it possible for Homeland Security and the Justice Department and its various law enforcement and immigration agencies to shoot down anyone’s drone for any justifiable reason.

As opposed to shooting them down for unjustifiable reasons? :LOL:
 
She did not even shoulder the shotgun properly... :-/


That girl can shoot. I have seen several videos of her shooting, her husband runs some gun shop, they do a lot of vids. She can shoot, I'm not volunteering to play pop-up target.
 
That girl can shoot. I have seen several videos of her shooting, her husband runs some gun shop, they do a lot of vids. She can shoot, I'm not volunteering to play pop-up target.
Fair enough - I'm not going to be a target either :D
 
Drones are a very new thing. We are no less free after this change than we were back in 1985 when we didn't have drones at all.

Drones are not new, what is new is the name "drone" and the fact you can get one for just a couple hundred dollars with an HD camera. Back 30 years ago they were called RC planes/helicopters, and ran on 2 cycle gas/methanol engines since the battery technology wasn't there. You could easily drop several grand or more for even a basic model and more if you wanted a camera with a resolution the size of a postage stamp, expect to pay way more. One of my buddies in the early 1990s had a gas RC helicopter, which was way more impressive than the dinky quadracopters around now.

This is conditional on how well they mark "off limits" zones. If it's poorly marked then this is completely bullshit. If they keep it to military and sensitive locations? I'm OK with this.

What do you want, beacons in the sky which tell you where to and not to fly? Any sensible person knows not to fly into military installations or airports.

If you're going to fly a drone, you need to do homework like a normal pilot does. Brush up on FAA regulation or whichever authority controls your local airspace that you want to fly in. You also need maps of the air corridors in your area to know where to not fly your drone. All of this is publicly available information.

Drones are getting such bad wraps because they've gotten so cheap that general idiots can afford them and fly them around completely ignorant to everyone around them.
 
She did not even shoulder the shotgun properly... :-/

That shotgun does have a pistol grip and a lot of skeet/clay target rounds are fairly light. If that was a 3.5" full load magnum, that video would be entertaining for a different reason.
 
That shotgun does have a pistol grip and a lot of skeet/clay target rounds are fairly light. If that was a 3.5" full load magnum, that video would be entertaining for a different reason.
True - it's just a personal gripe of mine is all. She did kill the target so there's that.
 
Use mine for nature pictures like water falls.

Usually takes 10 minutes to prep and 2 minutes to get a photo.

Don't know why people have to send them onto the white house lawn or onto airport runways, but their screwing it up for the rest of us.
 
I was thrilled, until I read that it only applied to US Authorities. I'm sure that droning is fun, but I know that there are probably thousands of droners zipping around my 5th floor apartment window, just trying to get some naughty pictures of me. I should be allowed to shoot them down!
 
So to be clear....the ACLU has a strong statement defending a robot.

When it comes to due process and the presumption of innocence, they compare Kavanaugh to Cosby and Clinton and call him guilty.

What a farce they have become.
 
Do these drones fly at a high enough altitude to disrupt commercial air traffic? If so, then yeah shoot them down when they're near dangerous areas like that. A bill like this should have been very specific for use cases: airports, sensitive govt areas, power plants etc. Not just a blanket authority to shoot them down anywhere, I'm actually surprised and disappointed most Americans willingly accept big govt into their lives now.
 
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Do these drones fly at a high enough altitude to disrupt commercial air traffic?
Near airport when planes are taking off and landing yes, in flight no so much since planes fly 5 to 6 miles up and I dont think drones have that range
 
they will not shoot down drones which they are informed of earlier will be flying at their location

geez, some common sense required..oh wait ACLU
 
Look we all knew something like this would eventually happen when idiots could walk into Target and buy a drone for $200 and do stupid shit.
 
I agree that the carte blanche approach overshoots the needed targets here ;)

On the other hand it seems obvious they should have options for things like installations, airports, emergency areas(fires, hostages, etc.).

Personally, though, not really a fan of drones. I grew up around people in the 70's-80's with remote planes, helicopters and we'd go to parks, fields and remote uninhabited areas. A lot of fun. When it comes to personal or government, I think it's b.s. for them to be used commonly in any residential area. Also grew up around hunters and I'm really against the people using drones now to herd or track prey.
 
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They need it, but it should have simple criteria as in proximity to aircraft, military bases, etc. Trespassing, Grounds for suspicion of invasion of privacy or malicious intent,
 
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They need it, but it should have simple criteria as in proximity to aircraft, military bases, etc. Trespassing, Grounds for suspicion of invasion of privacy or malicious intent,

If you flew into a restricted area like some military bases (not all are) you were automatically able to be intercepted and if uncooperative shot down.
 
True, but I don't lump helicopters in with the group of "commercial air traffic".

Define commercial air traffic. Because I suspect your definition and the FAAs (the ones that matter) varies greatly.
 
Define commercial air traffic. Because I suspect your definition and the FAAs (the ones that matter) varies greatly.
Yeah I'm sure my definition does vary greatly, when I think commercial air traffic I think of passenger or cargo planes.
 
Yeah I'm sure my definition does vary greatly, when I think commercial air traffic I think of passenger or cargo planes.
Helicopters are used for both. Not with the same volume as fixed wing, of course, but for certain situations they are the only solution.
 
This is a good thing, nearly every time there is a wildfire, the choppers and DC10s trying to put it out get delayed from some idiot flying a drone. When drones are in the air near wildfires, firefighters can't safely do their jobs.
 
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