Congress Passes Bill to Proliferate Drone Use in US Airspace (FAA says up to 30,000 by 2020)
http://techland.time.com/2012/02/08/congress-paves-way-for-unmanned-drones-in-u-s-commercial-airspace/
Ready to see drones flying over your house? A new bill passed by Congress will give commercial, private and military unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) greatly increased access to U.S. airspace that’s currently reserved only for manned planes. Right now drones are mostly limited to the U.S.-Mexico border and military airspace, as well as use by around 300 public agencies located far away from cities and airports. That is now scheduled to change by September 30, 2015.
The main focus of the bill is the FAA’s adoption of NextGen, a program that will allow commercial aircraft to install and use GPS technology for steeper, more efficient take-offs and landings instead of the ridiculously outdated way things are done now. All in all, this should help make air travel a lot more time efficient. We shouldn’t, however, ignore the implications of letting drones into airspace that was previously off-limits. While the military and local police forces have long been able to use UAVs in operations on U.S. soil, the prospect of commercial and privately owned drones presents plenty of new questions.
First, there’s the issue of privacy. Rigging a cheap drone with a video camera was no problem for an Occupy protestor;
http://techland.time.com/2011/12/21/occupy-wall-streets-new-drone-the-occucopter/ how hard would it be for someone with deeper pockets to finance a drone with even more powerful surveillance equipment to monitor, well, who knows what? How will we know what purposes any private citizen has for deploying a drone overhead?
Then there are the corporations. Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/07/congress-welcomes-the-drones/ points out that companies like Google could ditch their Street View cars and start deploying advanced, autonomous drones to roam the country for incredibly thorough mapping. If the idea of fleets of corporate-owned drones monitoring us from above doesn’t scare you, then you are a much less paranoid person than I.
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Related to the same bill (passed with Democratic support, plus this is HARDLY a 'routine bill') :
Why Does a Routine FAA Spending Bill Include Harsh Anti-union Language?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thom-hartmann/why-does-a-routine-faa-sp_b_1260653.html
The Republican strategy on Capitol Hill of legislating through hostage taking worked Monday -- and now unions are screwed.
House Republicans demanded that a routine FAA spending bill include harsh anti-union language that makes it harder for transportation workers to organize.
The change raises the threshold for seeking a union from 35 percent to 50 percent for transportation workers -- and Republicans basically said if Democrats don't agree to it then they'll shut down the FAA again -- just like they did last year.
Monday -- February, 6 -- despite 19 labor organizations writing a letter to Democrats calling on them to oppose the bill -- Democrats caved. A majority of Senate Democrats helped pass the bill and new anti-union law for transportation workers by a 75-20 vote.
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