FAA's new drone rules, privacy issues of concern for Google brothers Wing-ZDNet Japan

Greg Nichols (Special to ZDNet.com) Translation Proofreading: Keiichiro Ishibashi

2021-01-12 06:45

In the final week of December 2020, when many were spending an unusual holiday season ending a long year of exhaustion, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced unmanned aerial vehicles (generally). Announced the final version of the new rules regarding (called drones). The new rule has long been awaited and has long been the focus of relevant industries. The new rules require drones to send remote IDs, and under certain conditions, allow small drones to fly over humans and operate at night.

The relaxation of strict regulations that banned small drones from flying overhead will be a tailwind for the US commercial small drone industry, which is trying to catch up with other countries in the international market, such as drone delivery. The FAA, which was cautious about developing new rules for drones, released clear guidance in the area of ​​drone delivery, which is currently the fastest growing in the transportation industry (more than 1.7 million drones are now in the FAA). It should work positively for (registered).

However, some people in the drone industry, including the Wing team under Google's parent company Alphabet, believe the new FAA rules pose a major privacy challenge and are disappointed with the rules announced. Is raising the voice of.

"The new rules will allow an unspecified number of people to track consumer drone delivery orders at a basic level," a Wing spokeswoman said in an email to me. Says. "American society will not tolerate real-time monitoring of taxi movements and deliveries on the streets. We should not accept anything that flies in the air," they claim.

As a reminder, both the FAA and critics of the new rule support the use of remote IDs (RIDs) in drones as a necessary step forward. Wing and others are arguing that the current framework only has a mechanism for broadcasting flight information and to whom that information is sent. Wing explains the difference in his recent blog.

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