EnviroLink Forum

In light of Idaho's Ag-Gag laws which have now spread to 4 other states and are even spreading to other countries, and which make it illegal to go undercover to expose animal cruelty on factory farms ..... Will Potter has has began a kick starter campaign called "Drone on the Farm" to by pass these laws. The campaign has gone viral because "people don't like being told what they can't see".

Public exposure is toxic to these industries .......



http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/dr ... ideo/7827/

The use of drones to film by a journalist would fall under a commerical application, which is not currently allowed.

http://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=76381

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The manner in which FAA regulates drones solely using cease-and-desist letters is an "inappropriate substitute" for the standard rule-making practice in the US, the agencies also claimed in the brief. Additionally, the group urges "restrained regulatory rulings" that to not infringe on the freedom of journalists to collect and disseminate information.

In a press release, Mickey Osterreicher, General Counsel for the NPPA, said “With the advent of smaller and more advanced aerial platforms which are simple to operate and inexpensive to purchase, it is logical that innovative visual journalists [would] seek to report the news by using these devices to capture images with which to better inform the public."


http://www.dronejournalism.org/news/201 ... ent-rights


"The Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates airspace over the US, has yet to establish rules for integrating UAS into the National Airspace System (NAS), though Congress has called for the FAA to establish such regulations by 2015. Currently, legislation on commercial unmanned aviation, including for use in commercial media, is at a standstill."

(The legalities will always evolve, just because they must, alongside the technology.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_journalism


The FAA allows government entities' use of UAS on a case-by-case basis, via a Certificate of Authorization (COA); however, this option is unavailable to the general public. The FAA does allow hobbyists to operate model aircraft, including remotely or autonomously controlled craft, under Advisory Circular 91-57, which stipulates that these aircraft never fly above 400 feet or within 2 miles of an airport.[5]

I am both so chagrined at the uses of technology to hurt each other, we have become quite adept at that game, and yet encouraged by alternate uses ....

Tribalism ..... from our caves to our drones. We have clearly evolved in the technological sense .... but we are still wielding spears. From bone to digital.