Should the Commercial Use of Drones be Allowed?
By Lucas Eaves on 02/14/2013 in drones, FAA, NASA, UAV with 3 CommentsRead Time: 2 - 2 minutes
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly referred to as drones, have been a big subject of debate in recent months because of the Executive Branch’s use of predator drones in the war against terrorism abroad.
Many Americans are also concerned about potential domestic use of UAVs by government and law enforcement agencies. However, a little discussed topic is the upcoming commercial use of drones for non-military purposes.
In 2012, a law was passed asking the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA), NASA, and other federal agencies to prepare the integration of commercial drones in the American airspace, which could allow 30,000 drones to populate the airspace by 2015.
UAVs could be extremely useful in a very broad number of areas, including telecommunications, weather forecast, transportation, search and rescue, and in the contested area of aerial surveillance.
If the commercial use of drones could revolutionize numerous fields, it would not come without its share of concerns in terms of privacy, air traffic security, and potential misuses.
The following infographic, created by Maps of World, provides detailed information about the different use for UAVs, as well as the different types of UAVs currently in use.
After reviewing this infographic, do you think drones should be allowed to fly commercially?
Credit: http://www.mapsofworld.com/poll/should-drones-fly-commercially-infographic.html
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3 Comments
Alex Gauthier
02.14.2013
@alexg
i wouldnt mind a burrito bomber sending me food from the sky every now and then
Edward Bonnette
02.19.2013
@edwardbonnette
I think this is just one of the inevitable next steps in technological development and we should not try to fight this new innovation. Yes, there are privacy concerns, but as long as it is properly regulated, I think the positive effects greatly outweigh the negative.
Jenny Jo
02.21.2013
In light of this recent article here by Jane S. http://ivn.us/social-ballot/2013/02/20/social-media-crime-are-we-putting-ourselves-in-danger/
I thought I would mention a scenario as a comment on this article, since it pertains very much to a modern social networking company.. and in my opinion, and that of many others, is highly likely in the near future… Consider points made by Jane, then think of how small and easy of an investment it would be for a social network like Facebook to invest say.. 10 million$ .. thats not much for a billion + $ company, so lets go with that. Now Facebook takes this 10 million, invests it in drones, purchasing (at the going rate today, depending on model..) around 2000 drones. Facebook can now use their network of drones to coordinate with their database to scour the addresses and gps locations of its users and provide constant updated pictures of their homes and overhead view of their private property (probably on a 6-12 hour update schedule to start off, though updated much more frequently once they get more drones.. real time imagery of any location is in the near future). Arent you all excited? This is all completely legal see, since any data acquired from public airspace is owned by whoever can manage to secure that data. This gives ownership of privacy from the skies to the corporations and the government. Enjoy!