JmP - n. pub.

THE DRONE INDUSTRY GROUNDED FOR TAKEOFF:
HOW INTERNATIONALLY CONSISTENT STANDARDS
CAN MAKE IT SOAR
John Mario Piccione1
“A new idea is first condemned as ridiculous and then dismissed as trivial,
until finally, it becomes what everybody knows.”—WILLIAM JAMES2
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything
better.”—ALBERT EINSTEIN3
“[T]echnological progress requires above all tolerance toward the
unfamiliar and the eccentric.”—JOEL MOKYR4
1
John Mario Piccione is a student member of the International and Comparative Law Review
at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. His faculty advisor, David Glazier, has written
extensively on the subject of military drones. John also consulted with the following
commercial/private drone experts: Thomas Nielsen (Channel Island AUVSI Chapter
President), Peter Lee (Taylor Vinters LLP), and Alan McKenna (Kent Law School).
2
Yrjö Raivio, Techno-Economic Analysis of Novel Opportunities for Mobile Networks:
Open Innovation and Cloud Computing (Nov. 28, 2012) (published Ph.D. dissertation, Aalto
University) ii,
available at http://lib.tkk.fi/Diss/2013/isbn9789526048390/isbn9789526048390.pdf.
3
ELAINE WILKES, NATURE’S SECRET MESSAGES HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT xii (2011).

LOY. L.A. INT’L & COMP. L. REV. [N. PUB.]
1 of 72
I. PREFACE
Imagine a world where the rate for surviving a heart attack was increased
ten-fold from eight percent (8%) to eighty percent (80%).5
What if I told you that
we currently live in a world where it is indeed possible to substantially increase
heart attack survival rates this much, technologically, but today’s outmoded
regulatory frameworks restrict the use of this life-saving technology and, thus,
hold back society as a whole?6
This amazing technological advancement is
known as drone technology7
, and if we could change the way the world regulates
it, we could end up changing the world.8
Government regulatory apprehension of the technological development of
4
JOEL MOKYR, THE LEVER OF RICHES: TECHNOLOGICAL CREATIVITY AND ECONOMIC
PROGRESS 182 (1990).
5
Lisa Winter, ‘Ambulance Drone’ Could Drastically Increase Heart Attack Survival,
IFLSCIENCE (Nov. 05, 2014), http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/ambulance-
drone-could-drastically-increase-heart-attack-survival (explains that out of a million cardiac
arrests reported in Europe each year, only 8% survive, and that due to the speed and utility of
the ambulance drone, that the rate of survival could be increased to 80%).
6
drone-could-drastically-increase-heart-attack-survival (explains that although this is possible
today, technologically, the use of drones for this purpose is not currently legal).
7
See Lisa Winter, ‘Ambulance Drone’ Could Drastically Increase Heart Attack Survival,
drone-could-drastically-increase-heart-attack-survival.
8
See generally Melody Peterson, Proposed U.S. Regulations for Drones Expected Soon Amid
Soaring Sales, LA TIMES (Dec. 24, 2014, 5:00 AM), http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-
drone-regulation-20141224-story.html (“[d]rones will affect and change the world — much
like automobiles but on a much larger scale”).

THE DRONE INDUSTRY GROUNDED FOR TAKEOFF
flight dates back to at least the Eighteenth Century.9
During that time period in
France, the possibility of commercial flight was first introduced to the masses of
humanity by way of the advent of a technology known as hot air ballooning, or
simply, “ballooning” as it was known.10
Ballooning was considered to be, at that
time, a “sublime invention” that dazzled the world.11
It is today considered “one
of the most important inventions” of the Eighteenth Century.12
However, in Paris,
it was not long before the use of hot air balloons was legally prohibited by an
ordinance, due to the public’s fear of the new technology.13
The use of hot air balloons was prohibited unless the person using the hot
air balloon first applied for and obtained a government authorization.14
However,
these government authorizations were mostly only granted for scientific uses of
9
MICHAEL R. LYNN, POPULAR SCIENCE AND PUBLIC OPINION IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
FRANCE 138 (2006).
10
Balloon Flight, ENCYC. BRITANNICA,
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1424455/balloon-flight (last visited Nov. 21,
2014).
11
FRANCE 123 (2006).
12
FRANCE 123 (2006).
13
FRANCE 138 (2006).
14
FRANCE 138 (2006).

3 of 72
hot air balloons, and the penalty for violations of the ordinance was a fine of five
hundred (500) French livres.15
Such antiquated laws were originally meant to
allay public fears16
, but at what cost to science and humanity as a whole? Drones
are constantly becoming more and more prevalent in today’s society.
In 2013, a Time Magazine article asserted that “along with smart phones
and 3-D printing, [drones are only] one of a handful of genuinely transformative
technologies to emerge in the past [ten] years.”17
Estimates predict that the drone
industry will be worth eighty-two billion dollars ($82,000,000,000) by the year
2025, and it is projected to be one of the first industries to give rise to a trillion
dollar ($1,000,000,000,000) company.18
The American Bar Association wrote
that the issue of drone regulation is “slightly more popular than Ebola.”19
15
FRANCE 138 (2006).
16
See MICHAEL R. LYNN, POPULAR SCIENCE AND PUBLIC OPINION IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
FRANCE 138 (2006).
17
Lev Grossman, Drone Home: They fight and spy for America abroad. But what happens
when drones return home?, TIME (Feb. 11, 2013),
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2135132-1,00.html.
18
Melanie Reid, Grounding Drones: Big Brother’s Tool Box Needs Regulation Not
Elimination, 20 RICH. J. L. & TECH. 9, 13 (2014); Dominic Basulto, The Epic Quest To
Become the First $1 Trillion Company, WASHINGTON POST (Feb. 27, 2015),
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2015/02/27/the-epic-quest-to-become-
the-first-1-trillion-company/.
19
Victor Li, Firms Bet on Growth Potential of Drone Law, ABA JOURNAL (Oct. 27, 2014),
http://www.abajournal.com/lawscribbler/article/look_up_in_the_firm_its_drone_law.

In October 2014, the highly popular adult cartoon television show that is
well known for its controversial social commentary, South Park20
, devoted an
entire episode to the issue of civilian drone regulation.21
South Park is broadcast
all over the world in countries such as the United States22
, United Kingdom23
,
Canada24
, Australia25
, India26
, Serbia27
, New Zealand28
, Norway29
, and all across
20
Devin Leonard, ‘South Park’ creators haven’t lost their edge, FORTUNE (Oct. 27, 2006,
4:30 PM),
http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/8391792/index.htm
.
21
Episode 1805 “The Magic Bush” Press Release, COMEDY CENTRAL (Oct. 27, 2014),
http://southpark.cc.com/blog/2014/10/27/episode-1805-the-magic-bush-press-release.
22
Devin Leonard, ‘South Park’ creators haven’t lost their edge, FORTUNE (Oct. 27, 2006,
4:30 PM),
http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/8391792/index.htm
.
23
James Delingpole, South Park: The most dangerous show on television?, THE TELEGRAPH
(May 03, 2010, 9:00 AM), http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/7671750/South-
Park-The-most-dangerous-show-on-television.html.
24
Comedy, BELLMEDIA (Sept. 12, 2007),
http://web.archive.org/web/20120216011004/http://ctvmedia.ca/comedy/releases/release.asp?
id=9735&yyyy=2007.
25
South Park: Weekdays From 4.00PM, FOXTEL CHANNEL 121 (2012),
http://www.thecomedychannel.com.au/shows/south-park.html.
26
VH1 Brings South Park to India, VH1 INDIA (2008), http://www.vh1india.com/southpark/.
27
South Park heads north, C21 MEDIA (April 28, 2009),
http://web.archive.org/web/20110723034632/http://www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=
1&article=49321.

5 of 72
Latin America30
.
Big businesses are buzzing about drones, too. E-commerce giant,
Amazon31
, social media giant, Facebook32
, and online conglomerate, Google33
,
have heavily invested into the industry.34
Of those businesses, Amazon most
famously joined the drone debate when its founder, Jeff Bezos, announced to the
world on CBS’s “60 Minutes”, that his company planned to use these “eight-rotor
helicopter drones [that he] called an ‘octocopter’” to deliver packages to its
28
Boycott Backfires: South Park gets record audience (in New Zealand), CBC (Feb. 23,
2006, 1:52 PM), http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2006/02/23/boycott-southpark-
ratings.html
29
South Park heads north, C21 MEDIA (April 28, 2009),
http://web.archive.org/web/20110723034632/http://www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=
1&article=49321.
30
Increase in Latin America Subscribers for Viacom Channels, NEXTV LATAM (Feb. 05,
2013), http://nextvlatam.com/huge-growth-of-subscribers-to-viacom-channels-in-latin-
america/?lang=en.
31
Tim Worstall, Amazon’s Drones Are Illegal in the United States, FORBES (Dec. 11, 2013,
6:35 AM), http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/12/11/amazons-drones-are-illegal-
in-the-united-states.
32
Solar-powered Drones From Facebook Could Deliver Internet Around the World, RT
(Mar. 05, 2014, 11:56 AM), http://rt.com/usa/facebook-drone-space-internet-813/.
33
Amazon. Facebook. Now Google drones?, CNN MONEY,
http://money.cnn.com/video/investing/2014/08/29/investing-the-buzz-google-x-project-wing-
drone.cnnmoney/.
34
Daniel Kline, Google, Facebook, Amazon and the Future of Drones, THE MOTLEY FOOL
(April 16, 2014), http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/04/16/google-facebook-
amazon-and-the-future-of-drones.aspx; Brian Solomon, Facebook Follows Amazon, Google
Into Drones With $60 Million Purchase, FORBES (Mar. 04, 2014, 2:36 PM),
http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2014/03/04/facebook-follows-amazon-google-
into-drones-with-60-million-purchase/.

customers in less than thirty minutes from the time they complete their orders
online.35
Renowned legal expert, Richard A. Epstein writes in Can
Technological Innovation Survive Government Regulation?, that “[t]he
pace of regulation is one of the central issues of our time.”36
This is true
regarding drone regulation because its technology is advancing at an
“unprecedented” speed. 37
Thus, structuring a system of international
consistent minimum standards for drone regulation is most urgent38
.
35
Timothy B. Lee, Amazon Envisions Eventually Delivering Packages in 30 Minutes Via
Drones, WASHINGTON POST (Dec. 01, 2013), http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-
switch/wp/2013/12/01/amazon-wants-to-deliver-packages-in-30-minutes-with-drones/.
36
Richard A. Epstein, Can Technological Innovation Survive Government Regulation?, 36
HARV. J.L. & PUB. POL’Y 87, 102 (2013) (in his article, he criticizes the molasses-like pace of
regulation and credits the unprecedented growth and innovation of the Internet to the fact that
it was unregulated).
37
KONSTANTINOS DALAMAGKIDIS ET AL., ON INTEGRATING UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS
INTO THE NATIONAL AIRSPACE SYSTEM: ISSUES, CHALLENGES, OPERATIONAL RESTRICTIONS,
CERTIFICATION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS xiii (2d ed. 2012).
38
See Drone Technology Outpaces Regulation, Say Legal Experts, FAA, ABA News (Aug.
08, 2014, 11:35 AM), http://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-
archives/2014/08/drone_technologyout.html; See generally KONSTANTINOS DALAMAGKIDIS
ET AL., ON INTEGRATING UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS INTO THE NATIONAL AIRSPACE
SYSTEM: ISSUES, CHALLENGES, OPERATIONAL RESTRICTIONS, CERTIFICATION, AND
RECOMMENDATIONS 1 (2d ed.2012) (which states that the “great potential” of drone are being
held back by the “restrictive ‘regulatory framework’ currently in place in many countries
around the world”).

7 of 72
II. THE PROJECTED “FLIGHT PATH” (ROADMAP / OUTLINE) OF THIS LAW
REVIEW NOTE
This section is a roadmap or an outline of all of the subsequent sections in
this paper. The purpose of this section is to help in understanding the structure
and breadth of this article on the legal issues regarding regulation of commercial
drone use.
Part III of this paper (“Kick the Tires, Light the Fires — The Three Things
You Need To Know To Get Started: (1) What is Drone Law; (2) What Principles
Influence It; and (3) How Do Countries Around the World Currently Regulate
The Commercial Use of Drones?”) will introduce the broad concept of drone law
and seek to narrow it down to just commercial drone law by the end. There will
be a discussion of certain aviation (or air law) principles that have an influence on
drone law, with examples given. Such principles include airworthiness
certification, airspace classification and the use of treaties to create uniform
international standards. Then, you will be introduced to the concept of
commercial drone law with examples from countries all over the world. We will
explore today’s three popular approaches to regulating or restriction commercial
drone use, globally.
Part IV of this paper (“What Factors Need To Be Considered to Formulate
& Enforce Commercial Drone Law?”) is broken into two big subparts: (1) Factors
to Consider in the Formulation of Commercial Drone Laws and (2) Factors to

Consider for the Betterment of Enforcement of Drone Laws.
The “Formulation” subpart will explore the following factors: (1) The
Countless Beneficial Uses of Commercial Drones; (2) The Physical
Characteristics of Drones; (3) Technological Protections and Vulnerability of
Drones; and (4) “Mayday!!”: The Public Policy Concerns Regarding Drones.
This subpart will explore everything from the different shapes and sizes of drones
and the different technologies they incorporate to the privacy, safety, and
insurability issues they present.
The Countless Beneficial Uses of Commercial Drones will include: (1)
emergency medical response; (2) agricultural use; (3) meteorological /
atmospheric prediction; (4) package delivery; (5) wireless Internet / Wi-Fi
delivery; and (6) photography and videography.
The Physical Characteristics will explain the different variations on the term
“drone”, and it will divide civilian drones into four categories (micro, small, large,
and in-between) and compare and contrast each. It will not only explain the
different types of civilian drones, but it will also give examples of each.
The Technological Protections and Vulnerabilities section will discuss
protective technological concepts such as sense and avoid and programmed flight
limitations. It will also discuss vulnerable technological concepts like being
prone to hacking, malware and flying away (losing control of the drone and
usually losing the drone in the process).

9 of 72
Next, The Public Policy Concerns sections will explore the biggest public policy
issues in the commercial drone debate: privacy, safety, and insurability.
The “Enforcement” subpart will explore the following three principles of
enforcement: (1) proactivity, (2) clarity, and (3) consistency. These will be
explored in depth, with examples given from multiple countries.
Next, in Part V of this paper (“Final Approach: Why An International
Treaty Setting Out Minimum Regulatory Standards, Peer-Enforced Soft law
International Guidance & Limited Technological Self-Regulation Can Make
Commercial Drones Soar”), the influences from air law principles and existing
drone regulation solutions will be applied to the most important factors, needed to
be considered in formulating and enforcing commercial drone regulations, in the
form of an international treaty that sets out a consistent regulatory framework of
minimum standards. Scenarios of how to best accomplish this will be discussed
and alternatives will be given.
It will go on to suggest a peer-enforceable international soft law guidance
on minimum standards be considered if the treaty is not possible. In addition to
that, it will talk about how to apply principles of air law to new drone
technologies in order to better enforce regulations proactively.
Lastly, Part VII of this paper (“Conclusion”) will sum up all of the
arguments made in the body of the paper and discuss how the future of the
industry can take flight.

III. KICK THE TIRES, LIGHT THE FIRES
39
— THE THREE THINGS YOU NEED
TO KNOW TO GET STARTED: (1) WHAT IS DRONE LAW; (2) WHAT PRINCIPLES
INFLUENCE IT; AND (3) HOW DO COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD CURRENTLY
REGULATE THE COMMERCIAL USE OF DRONES?
This section discusses what drone law is and how it was developed from
influential principles of air (Aviation) law.
(1)! What is Drone Law?
Drone law is essentially a blanket term representing the different bodies
of laws and regulations governing the many uses of drones in both national and
international airspaces. While drones and their technology have been around for a
very long time40
, drone law is a relatively new concept, and globally, it is largely
underdeveloped because regulating drones is a complicated issue.41
The many
39
‘Kick the tires, light the fires’ is fighter pilot lingo referring to getting the necessary steps
out of the way to move onto the main task at hand. See PAUL DICKSON, SLANG: THE TOPICAL
DICTIONARY OF AMERICANISMS 50 (2006) (A term of military origin — used, “[f]ormerly, to
bypass or severely shorten the required routine of physically inspecting the aircraft prior to
flight. Current meaning: ‘Let’s get this aircraft preflighted and outta here, pronto.’”)
40
See KONSTANTINOS DALAMAGKIDIS ET AL., ON INTEGRATING UNMANNED AIRCRAFT
SYSTEMS INTO THE NATIONAL AIRSPACE SYSTEM: ISSUES, CHALLENGES, OPERATIONAL
RESTRICTIONS, CERTIFICATION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS 11-26 (2d ed.2012) (discusses the
earliest forms of unmanned flight to the more modern ancestors of what we know today as
drones).
41
See Office of the Director General of Civil Aviation, Public Notice (GN) 05-13/2014-AED
(India); Matthew Sparkes, Is It Illegal to Fly a Drone in the UK?, THE TELEGRAPH (Nov. 25,
2014, 4:38 PM), http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/11253358/Is-it-illegal-to-fly-a-

11 of 72
factors that make it such a complicated issue will be discussed later in this paper,
in Part IV.
However, drone regulation is an important issue to society
As the Director of Aviation Affairs for the European Union put it, “[r]egulating
drones is clearly the number one issue in terms of sheer visibility and public
awareness”.42
(2)! What Principles Influence Drone Law?
The main principles influencing today s drone law come from air law, and
one of the most governing principles of air law is that there are not many new
principles of air law.43
In other words, air law’s bones are merely scavenged
from a collection of borrowings from other areas of law (such as maritime law,
for example).44
However, there are still some areas of air law worth mentioning
that are important discuss to better understand how to regulate commercial drone
drone-in-the-UK.html.
42
Andy Pasztor, U.S., Europe Differ on Approach to Commercial Drones, WSJ (June 18,
2014, 4:38 AM), http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-europe-differ-on-approach-to-commercial-
drones-1403080698.
43
P. P. C. HAANAPPEL, THE LAW AND POLICY OF AIR SPACE AND OUTER SPACE: A
COMPARATIVE APPROACH xiv (2003) (Haanappel says that there are very few new principles
of air law).
44
P. P. C. HAANAPPEL, THE LAW AND POLICY OF AIR SPACE AND OUTER SPACE: A
COMPARATIVE APPROACH xiv (2003) (Haanappel says that air law is “borrowed mainly from
other areas of the law, not in the least from maritime law, and from general private and public
law.”)

use. These include the use of airworthiness certification 45
, airspace
classifications46
, and treaties (for international, uniform conformance).
(2)(a)! Airworthiness Certification
In air law there is a concept of regulating from the manufacturing level,
known as airworthiness certification .47
In airworthiness, there are minimum
standards for aircraft model designs, specific parts used on the vehicles, and the
condition of the aircraft that must be met in order for the aircraft to be deemed
worthy and authorized to fly in the national airspace.48
These airworthiness
certifications greatly regulate air safety before a pilot is ever even inside of an
aircraft’s cockpit.49
(2)(b)! Airspace Classification
In air regulation, airspace classification serves two main purposes: (1)
it controls air travel within certain altitudes and (2) it restricts air travel above
45
DAVID HEFFERNAN & BRENT CONNOR, AVIATION REGULATION IN THE UNITED STATES
278 (2014).
46
FAA, PILOT’S HANDBOOK OF AERONAUTICAL KNOWLEDGE pt.14 (2014).
47
278-279 (2014).
48
278-279 (2014).
49
278 (2014).

13 of 72
certain specially designated areas.50
This is a common component in current
drone laws, too. 51
For example, the following Australian drone regulation
controls air travel within certain altitudes and restricts air travel above certain
specially designated areas:
A person may operate a small UAV [drone] outside an approved
area only if:
(a) where the UAV [drone] is operated above 400 feet…and
(b) the UAV stays clear of populous areas52
(2)(c)! International Treaties
In order to understand the future of drone law, we will scrutinize the
international aviation standards and examine whether they can sufficiently cover
the regulation of drone activities.
Over the years, there have been various international treaties in air law
that have been formed among the world’s major countries to solve issues relating
to international flight. Such treaties include The Warsaw Convention (covering
air liability)53
, The Tokyo Convention (covering liability for endangering safety
50
See generally FAA, PILOT’S HANDBOOK OF AERONAUTICAL KNOWLEDGE pt.14 1-3 (2014).
51
E.g., Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (Cth) pt 101.065 (Austl.)
52
Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (Cth) pt 101.250 (Austl.)
53
2 California Tort Guide §2.22 (OnLAW 2014); BRIAN F. HAVEL & GABRIEL S. SANCHEZ,
THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF INTERNATIONAL AVIATION LAW 294 (2014).

and security)54
, The Hague Convention (covering liability and protocols for
hijackings)55
, The Montreal Convention (covering safety and security of civil
aviation)56
and The Convention on International Civil Aviation (creating the
United Nations subsidiary, The International Civil Aviation Organization, which
is also known as ICAO), which is arguably one of the most important treaties that
deals with commercial aviation57
.
The Convention on International Civil Aviation (or The Chicago
Convention) was a post-World War II convention, which set out international
rules and standards of national sovereignty in airspace.58
While the ICAO published an advisory circular that stated they believed that
many of the articles of the Chicago Convention apply to unmanned aircraft (or
54
BRIAN F. HAVEL & GABRIEL S. SANCHEZ, THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF
INTERNATIONAL AVIATION LAW 194 (2014).
55
INTERNATIONAL AVIATION LAW 202 (2014).
56
INTERNATIONAL AVIATION LAW 186-187 (2014).
57
DAVID HEFFERNAN & BRENT CONNOR, AVIATION REGULATION IN THE UNITED STATES 3
(2014) (“[O]ne of the most enduring and important treaties ever concluded”).
58
DAVID HEFFERNAN & BRENT CONNOR, AVIATION REGULATION IN THE UNITED STATES 3
(2014).

15 of 72
drones)59
, there is no clear rule that such a claim is valid. In fact, many experts do
not give much weight to the ICAO’s advisory circulars as being authoritative at
all.60
There is only one article from the Chicago Convention that could apply to
drones, Article 8 on “Pilotless Aircraft”61
:
No aircraft capable of being flown without a pilot shall be flown
without a pilot over the territory of a contracting State without special
authorization by that State and in accordance with the terms of such
authorization. Each contracting State undertakes to insure that the
flight of such aircraft without a pilot in regions open to civil aircraft
shall be so controlled as to obviate danger to civil aircraft.62
Aside from that article, the rest of the Convention does not explicitly apply
to drones (or unmanned aircraft). For example, India stopped allowing its
civilians to fly drones in its airspace precisely because the ICAO did not explicitly
apply to drones and ICAO had failed to establish international standards for drone
use to guide countries like India.63
Thus, India will likely not reverse its decision
59
See Int’l Civil Aviation Org. [ICAO], Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), Cir. 238-AN/190
(2011).
60
DAVID HEFFERNAN & BRENT CONNOR, AVIATION REGULATION IN THE UNITED STATES 53-
54 (2014).
61
See Int’l Civil Aviation Org. [ICAO], Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), Cir. 238-AN/190
(2011).
62
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Convention on International Civil
Aviation, 2006, Doc 7300/9 Art. 8.
63
(India).

to ban civilian drone activity until ICAO sets forth some real international
standards regarding drones.64
It is not certain how long this will take because, as
Australian drone law expert, Roger Clarke says, the ICAO “moves glacially”
slow.65
(3)! A Comparison: How Do Countries Around the World Currently
Regulate the Commercial Use of Drones?
In order to truly understand what commercial drone law is, it is important
to look at and compare the many different ways that countries around the world
regulate commercial drones. Some countries are so strict that they do not allow
commercial drone use for any reason.66
Others are not strict at all and allow
commercial drone use without any restrictions.67
Most, however, have a statutory
or regulatory ban on the commercial use of drones but (like Paris did with hot air
64
See generally Office of the Director General of Civil Aviation, Public Notice (GN) 05-
13/2014-AED (India).
65
Roger Clarke, Address at Finders University, Adelaide’s Unmanned Aerial Systems
Conference: Drones’ Challenges to Public Safety (Feb. 17, 2014), available at
http://www.rogerclarke.com/SOS/Drones-PSA.pdf.
66
See generally Office of the Director General of Civil Aviation, Public Notice (GN) 05-
13/2014-AED (India).
67
See Circular Obligatoria [Compulsory Circular] CO AV-21.2/07-R1 DGAC
[DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AVIATION] (Mex.).

17 of 72
balloons in the Eighteenth Century68
) allow individual entities to be exempt from
the ban by applying for and obtaining government authorization.
First we will look at the variation of countries’ regulatory approaches to
commercial drone use. We will look at three different approaches, ranging from
strict to lenient. Second, we will look at the different terms countries use to
describe commercial use and evaluate any differences.
(3)(a)! Three Different Approaches to Commercial Drone Regulation
This section will compare the following three different approaches to
commercial drone regulation: (1) Banned without Exception, (2) Banned with
Exception, and (3) Not Banned. Then, for those countries that ban with an
exception, I will evaluate their individual regulatory regimes by level of
strictness, based on the amount of commercial use exceptions each has granted to
date.
(3)(a)(i)!Banned Without Exception
The first country we will look at is India, which is a good example of one
of the strictest countries when it comes to commercial aerial drone use. It has
68
See generally MICHAEL R. LYNN, POPULAR SCIENCE AND PUBLIC OPINION IN EIGHTEENTH-
CENTURY FRANCE 138 (2006).

implemented a total ban, meaning any use of aerial drones for commercial gain is
prohibited without exception.69
India did not always have such a strict ban.
In fact, when faced with a strict no-exception commercial use ban at home
(in the United States) in mid-2014, Amazon set its sights on India, due to its then-
lenient laws regarding commercial drone use.70
However, in October 2014,
India’s aviation regulator announced the ban, citing a current lack of standards
promulgated by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), uncertainty
of the technology and a high threat of air collisions and accidents in the dense
airspace over India.71
In fact, its ban is not just on commercial use of drones. It
applies to any “non-government” user of drones in India’s airspace “for any
purpose whatsoever.”72
(3)(a)(ii)! Banned With Exception
In December 2014, the United States Government Accounting Office
released a report that Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada are more
69
(India).
70
See Laura Lorenzetti, Amazon may be flying to India to test drone deliveries, FORTUNE
(Aug. 20, 2014, 8:25 AM), http://fortune.com/2014/08/20/amazon-may-be-flying-to-india-to-
test-drone-deliveries/.
71
(India).
72
Office of the Director General of Civil Aviation, Public Notice (GN) 05-13/2014-AED
(India).

19 of 72
advanced than the United States with regard to “regulations supporting [drone]
integration.”73
The United States’ approach to commercial drone prohibition was
largely the reason for that assessment.74
Similarly in 2014, drone law expert
Brendan Schulman said, “[i]f you are a company with a promising product [there
is] no way to develop it [in the United States] — you need to take it to…the UK,
or Australia where the regulatory environment is not so unfriendly.”75
In fact, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and France are all
countries that employ the “banned with exception” principle to regulating
commercial drones. What sets these countries’ regulatory approaches apart is that
they differ in the requirements to obtain an exception to the ban. This will be
shown clearly based on the number of exceptions that have been granted by each
country. In short, in some countries it is easier to be exempt from the commercial
73
John Goglia, Sad, But True: Report Finds U.S. Lags Behind Other Countries in
Commercial Drone Use, FORBES (Dec. 20, 2014, 08:26 AM),
http://forbes.com/sites/johngoglia/2014/12/20/sad-but-true-report-finds-us-lags-behind-other-
countries-in-commercial-drone-use/.
74
See John Goglia, Sad, But True: Report Finds U.S. Lags Behind Other Countries in
Commercial Drone Use, FORBES (Dec. 20, 2014, 08:26 AM),
http://forbes.com/sites/johngoglia/2014/12/20/sad-but-true-report-finds-us-lags-behind-other-
countries-in-commercial-drone-use/.
75
Ed Pilkington, What’s Keeping America’s Private Drone Industry Grounded?, THE
GUARDIAN (Sept. 30, 2014), http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/29/drone-testers-
faa-aviation-frustration-grows.

drone ban than others, even though they all institute a ban.76
The United States bans “business purposes”.77
The United Kingdom bans
“aerial work” for small drones and bans large drones.78
Australia bans anything
that is not considered “sport” or “recreation” for small drones and bans large
drones.79
France bans “special activities”.80
The good news is that all of these
countries have exceptions to their bans.
To date, the United States has granted the least amount of exceptions, forty-
six (46). 81
The United Kingdom makes you get a Commercial Operating
Certificate of Small Unmanned Aircraft to do aerial work (requires showing of
pilot qualification and design and construction certificates)82
, and to date has
76
FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, Pub. L. No. 112-95 § 333 (U.S.); Air
Navigation Order 2009, Art. 225 (U.K.); Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (Cth) pt
101.235 (Austl.); Decree of April 11 2012 (Fr.).
77
14 C.F.R. Pt 91.
78
Air Navigation Order 2009, Art. 225 (U.K.)
79
Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (Cth) pt 101.235 (Austl.)
80
Decree of April 11 2012, Art. 9 (Fr.)
81
Section 333, FAA (Mar. 02, 2015),
https://www.faa.gov/uas/legislative_programs/section_333/.
82
CAP 772 § 3 (U.K.)

21 of 72
granted five hundred and thirty-six (536).83
Australia requires drone operators
working “for hire or reward” to get an Operator’s Certificate (requiring
completion of a training course or having a private pilot’s license)84
.85
To date,
Australia has granted two hundred and three (203) certificates.86
Finally, France
has granted over a thousand (1000+) operator certificates to date.87
France has
different requirements, depending on the complexity of the use.88
For the less
complex uses, the operator only has to declare on his or her honor that he or she
has the technical skills required.89
For the more complex use, the operator must
have a private pilot’s license and prove at least 100 hours of flying experience.90
83
SUA Operators, CAA (Feb. 26, 2015),
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/1995/26Feb15%20RptUAVcurrentDates.pdf.
84
Application For Remote Pilot Certificate/UAV Controller Certificate, CASA (Aug. 02,
2013),
http://www.casa.gov.au/wcmswr/_assets/main/download/new_cc_info_ver0_2aug13.pdf.
85
Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (Cth) pt 101.270(1) (Austl.)
86
List of UAS Operator Certificate Holders, CASA (Mar. 15, 2015),
http://www.casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMS:STANDARD::pc=PC_100959.
87
Liste des exploitants [List of operators], DGAC (Dec. 31, 2014),
http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/document150594 (Fr.).
88
Drones (aéronefs télépilotés) [Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)], DGAC (Jan. 06, 2015),
http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/Etre-apte-au-telepilotage-de-drone.html (Fr.).
89
90

(3)(a)(iii)! Not Banned
Mexico’s approach to commercial drone use is completely opposite of
India’s no-exception ban. 91
Mexico allows entities wanting to use drones
commercially in Mexico’s airspace to do so freely without needing to apply for
any permission to do so.92
It is no surprise, thus, that one of the largest civilian
and commercial drone producers93
, 3D Robotics, it located in Tijuana94
.
In fact, Mexico’s government has been actively promoting drone use. For
example, whereas most countries are extremely strict about keeping drones away
from their airports, Mexico commissioned its submission for the 2015 New York
City Drone Film Festival95
to be shot at one of its airports over two days.96
It did
91
See generally Circular Obligatoria [Compulsory Circular], CO AV-21.2/07-R1, DGAC
[DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AVIATION] (Mex.).
92
See Circular Obligatoria [Compulsory Circular] CO AV-21.2/07-R1 DGAC [DEPARTMENT
OF CIVIL AVIATION] (Mex.); see also Matt McFarland, Why Mexico City air traffic
controllers were happy to have a drone flying around their airport, THE WASHINGTON POST
(Mar. 11, 2015), http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/s/wp/2015/03/11/why-mexico-city-
air-traffic-controllers-were-happy-to-have-a-drone-flying-around-their-airport/ (“Mexico
doesn’t have rules prohibiting commercial drone operation or requiring certain licensing.”)
93
Frank Bi, Drone Maker 3D Robotics Raises $50 Million In Latest Round, FORBES (Feb. 26,
2015, 3:30 AM), http://www.forbes.com/sites/frankbi/2015/02/26/drone-maker-3d-robotics-
raises-50-million-in-latest-round/ (3D Robotics is “North America’s largest personal drone
manufacturer”).
94
Rachel Glickhouse, Explainer: Drones in Latin America, AS/COA [AMERICAS SOCIETY /
COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAS] (Aug. 28, 2013), http://www.as-coa.org/articles/explainer-
drones-latin-america#mexico.
95
It won the Festival’s audience choice award. See Matt McFarland, Why Mexico City air
traffic controllers were happy to have a drone flying around their airport, THE WASHINGTON

23 of 72
so under the condition that all the pilots affected by the drones’ presence (the
drones were flying over aircrafts taking off and landing) to consent to the drone
use, in order to ensure safety.97
It should be noted that “not one pilot objected to
them flying the drones nearby”98
. Additionally, Mexico is actively exploring
agricultural drone use99
and environmental conservation drone use100
.
Next we will explore the factors that are needed to be considered in
formulating a regulatory approach. It will explain the complexities and
POST (Mar. 11, 2015),
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2015/03/11/why-mexico-city-air-
traffic-controllers-were-happy-to-have-a-drone-flying-around-their-airport/.
96
Matt McFarland, Why Mexico City air traffic controllers were happy to have a drone flying
around their airport, THE WASHINGTON POST (Mar. 11, 2015),
97
98
99
See Rachel Glickhouse, Explainer: Drones in Latin America, AS/COA [AMERICAS
SOCIETY / COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAS] (Aug. 28, 2013), http://www.as-
coa.org/articles/explainer-drones-latin-america#mexico.
100
See Associated Press, Mexico to use drones to protect endangered Vaquita porpoise in the
Sea of Cortez, FOXNEWS (Jan. 19, 2015),
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/01/19/mexico-to-use-drones-to-protect-endangered-
vaquita-porpoise-in-sea-cortez/; see also Mexico News Network, Mexico uses drones to save
the vaquita, YOUTUBE (Feb. 07, 2015), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjbOTfpM9cI.

complications that reveal why there is such disparity in regulating commercial
drones among so many countries in the international arena.

25 of 72
IV. WHAT FACTORS NEED TO BE CONSIDERED TO FORMULATE &
ENFORCE COMMERCIAL DRONE LAW?
With drone law being so complicated an issue, in order to properly
formulate and enforce laws and regulations regarding drone use, a number of
factors should be considered.
Factors to Consider in the Formulation of Commercial Drone Laws
(1)(a)! Countless Beneficial Uses of Commercial Drones
The benefits of commercial drone use and technology are countless, but
below this paper will discuss the following benefits: (1) emergency medical
response, (2) agricultural use, (3) meteorological / atmospheric prediction, (4)
package delivery, (5) wireless Internet / Wi-Fi delivery, and (6) photography and
videography.
(1)(a)(i) Emergency Medical Response
As mentioned above, there are many benefits of drones, and possibly one of
the most important ones is being able to save lives. The ambulance drone has
been developed in Holland to specifically respond to reported heart attacks which
traditionally have a low eight percent (8%) survival rate due to the time required
for first responders to get to the scene.101
The ambulance cuts a ten-minute (10
101

min.) response to one minute (1 min.), as it is capable of avoiding street traffic by
flying over it.102
This has increased the survival rate to eighty percent (80%).103
Drones are also being used to save lives by gathering environmental data for
medical research.104
For example, in Sabah and Malaysia in the Philippines,
surveying small drones are being utilized for environmental scientific research.105
The issue is that deforestation creates physical conditions that allow for infectious
diseases such as Malaria to flourish.106
According to a team from the London
School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in order to combat this issue, drones
are tracking environmental patterns in order to allow scientists to “model the
102
103
104
Joshua Chambers, Drones Are Helping Battle Malaria In Malaysia, Philippines: Cheaper
for Measuring Environmental Factors, and Well-Suited For The Tropics, ASIA PACIFIC
FUTUREGOV (Nov. 21, 2014), http://www.futuregov.asia/articles/5763-drones-are-helping-
battle-malaria-in-malaysia-philippines.
105
106

27 of 72
spread of a disease, estimate its likely impact, and create early warning
systems.”107
Blocking this research with regulations on drones can prevent the saving of
a number of lives, and the Filipino scientists criticize it as a threat to their medical
research.108
They complain that navigating multiple agencies, “from ministries of
defense and civil aviation authorities to conservation and development councils
and land-use planning authorities” in order to obtain permission for drone use has
become a great challenge.109
The alternative for scientists is to use satellite
technology, which they consider inferior to drones in this respect because drones
are able to fly below clouds that obstruct satellite image gathering.110
The most beneficial use of these unmanned flying robots is not only that
107
108
109
110

they can save human lives in response to emergencies, but that they can do so
without risking the lives of the human rescuers. For example, in Abu Dhabi, in
2014, a man cleaning a high-rise building’s exterior windows found himself in the
jaws of death when his scaffolding platform malfunctioned, causing him to have
to cling for his life to a window high in the sky.111
However, in the United Arab
Emirates (where Abu Dhabi is located), a drone was successfully used, legally, to
save his life by allowing rescuers to communicate with the man, calming him
down and instructing him how to fix the scaffolding’s issue to be able return to
the ground safely.112
In the end, he was unharmed.113
The issue of the high-rise occupants’
privacy was deliberately pushed aside in favor of preserving human life.114
That
is because this rescue required a microphone and camera equipped drone to fly
111
Drone Used To Rescue Window Cleaner Dangling From Tower Block, 7DAYS IN…DUBAI
(Nov. 05, 2014), http://7daysindubai.com/drone-used-rescue-window-cleaner-dangling-
tower-block/.
112
tower-block/.
113
tower-block/.
114
See generally Drone Used To Rescue Window Cleaner Dangling From Tower Block,
7DAYS IN…DUBAI (Nov. 05, 2014), http://7daysindubai.com/drone-used-rescue-window-
cleaner-dangling-tower-block/.

29 of 72
past hundreds of windows to be accomplished.115
In fact, because of drone
technology, this kind of thing may never have to happen again. That is because
there is now, in the United Arab Emirates, a prototype drone that cleans the
windows of high-rise buildings.116
(1)(a)(ii) Agricultural Use
Since 1991, Japan has been successfully using in-between sized drones to
aid in agricultural aspects such as seeding and spraying.117
Korea has also
implemented agricultural drones.118
In 2013, the Japanese used around two
thousand four hundred (2400) of these drones in agriculture for rice cultivation.119
The year 2013 was also the first year that Yamaha’s in-between drones were used
115
tower-block/ (“Police said…the fault in the cleaning cradle was identified [and communicated
to the dangling man] using the drone’s cameras and microphone.”).
116
Window Cleaning Drones, THE UAE DRONES FOR GOOD AWARD,
https://www.dronesforgood.ae/award/finalists/window-cleaning-drones (“A civil drone which
is able to clean windows and surfaces autonomously at high altitudes.”).
117
IEEE Spectrum, Yamaha Demos Agricultural Drones, But Humans Can’t Unleash It Yet,
DRONE LIFE (Oct. 16, 2014), http://dronelife.com/2014/10/16/yamaha-demos-agricultural-
drone-humans-cant-unleash-yet/.
118
Prue Adams, Eyes in the Sky, ABCNEWS (Oct. 19, 2013),
http://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2013/s3872768.htm.
119

in Australian farms.120
Drones used for spraying to eradicate pests have already
saved the Australian farming industry millions of dollars.121
Precision farming, as
it has become known, uses the drone to map out the area and use that data to
precisely dispense the right amount of fertilizer in a certain area, as well as
detecting and eradicating weeds that hurt yields.122
The mapping data collected
can be put to many specific uses, such as “forests can be mapped by plant species,
quarries can be mapped by mineral composition and farmland can be mapped by
plant vitality.”123
(1)(a)(iii) Meteorological / Atmospheric Prediction
When hot air balloons were first invented, they were widely criticized as
having no beneficial use to society beyond mere entertainment.124
However, that
changed in the late Nineteenth Century (1800s), when French meteorologist, Léon
Teisserenc de Bort, pioneered the use of balloons to collect data for meteorology
120
121
122
Rachel Rohr, Meet the New Drones Could Be a Farmer’s Best Friend, MODERN FARMER
(Jan. 21, 2014), http://modernfarmer.com/2014/01/precision-hawk/.
123
Leica Mapping Drones to Carry Headwall Hyperspectral Imagers, PHOTONICS (Oct. 29,
2014), http://www.photonics.com/Article.aspx?AID=56834.
124
FRANCE 138-39 (2006).

31 of 72
(today known as “weather balloons”).125
In 1900, this new use of a technology,
that was almost a century old, allowed him to discover the stratosphere.126
Weather balloons are today still commonly used, globally, in meteorology.127
This technology is responsible for saving live by allowing meteorologists to be
able to accurately warn the public of severe weather in time to proactively
minimize the risks posed by such weather.128
Like hot air balloons, drones have also been criticized as not offering any
more benefit than entertainment.129
However, drones are being used to gather
information critical to being able to predict tornado formations and better
understanding them.130
This is because drones are able to fly into dangerous
125
Leon Teisserenc de Bort, ENCYC. BRITANNICA,
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/585710/Leon-Teisserenc-de-Bort
126
Leon Teisserenc de Bort, ENCYC. BRITANNICA,
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/585710/Leon-Teisserenc-de-Bort
127
NAT’L OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA), It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane!
…No! It’s a NOAA Weather Balloon!,
http://www.noaa.gov/features/02_monitoring/balloon.html (last visited Feb. 7, 2015).
128
NAT’L OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA), It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane!
…No! It’s a NOAA Weather Balloon!,
http://www.noaa.gov/features/02_monitoring/balloon.html (last visited Feb. 7, 2015).
129
California Western School of Law, UAV Panel, Air & Space Law Symposium 2014,
YOUTUBE (Oct. 10, 2014), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxIU2P-riMA.
130
Brendan Richardson, Drones Could Revolutionize Weather Forecasts, but Must Overcome
Safety Concerns, WASHINGTON POST (Apr. 25, 2014),
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/04/25/drones-could-
revolutionize-weather-forecasts-but-must-overcome-safety-concerns/.

situations without risk to human life.131
For example, the “Coyote” drone flies into the dangerous eye of a hurricane
and can collect data for “up to an hour”.132
It is said that this drone “could
eventually improve hurricane prediction models and enable more accurate
forecasts.”133
There is, however, an alternative to using drone technology.
That alternative is the age-old practice known as hurricane hunting, where
pilots actually fly into and above tropical storms in order to collect data.134
Additionally, it is estimated that with drones, weather forecasts can be predicted
around ninety days in advance and increase accuracy of prediction.135
131
revolutionize-weather-forecasts-but-must-overcome-safety-concerns/.
132
See Graham Flanagan, This Drone Goes Inside A Hurricane to Gather Data That Could
Save Your Life, Bus. Insider (Sept. 27. 2014, 1:02 PM),
http://www.businessinsider.com/drone-flies-inside-a-hurricane-2014-9.
133
Graham Flanagan, This Drone Goes Inside A Hurricane to Gather Data That Could Save
Your Life, Bus. Insider (Sept. 27. 2014, 1:02 PM), http://www.businessinsider.com/drone-
flies-inside-a-hurricane-2014-9.
134
Dave Williams, Hurricane Hunters Head into Danger to Keep Public Safe, ABC NEWS 4:
CHARLESTON (July 04, 2013, 2:36 PM),
http://www.abcnews4.com/story/22762819/hurricane-hunters-head-into-danger-to-keep-
public-safe
135
revolutionize-weather-forecasts-but-must-overcome-safety-concerns/

33 of 72
(1)(a)(iv) Package Delivery
Perhaps the most widely publicized potential use of drones is package
delivery.136
Amazon was the first big business to open the discussion of package
delivery with drones.137
Not long after, Google decided to unveil its then-secret
project, known as Project Wing, which also envisioned the utilization of small
drones for carrying out delivery of “goods across the country.”138
For the
demonstration of its Project Wing prototype, Google tested the drone’s
capabilities by successfully delivering medical supplies and dog food in
Australia.139
Then, DHL (a globally operating logistics and parcel delivery
company) announced that it too was working on offering a drone delivery service
for its customers.140
136
Katie Little, Did Amazon Just Pull Off the Best PR Stunt Ever?, CNBC (Dec. 02, 2013,
12:44 PM), http://www.cnbc.com/id/101239524
137
Timothy B. Lee, Amazon Envisions Eventually Delivering Packages in 30 Minutes Via
Drones, WASHINGTON POST (Dec. 01, 2013), http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-
switch/wp/2013/12/01/amazon-wants-to-deliver-packages-in-30-minutes-with-drones/
138
Cade Metz, Google Reveals ‘Project Wing,’ Its Two-Year Effort to Build Delivery Drones,
WIRED (Aug. 28, 2014, 7:46 PM), http://www.wired.com/2014/08/google-reveals-project-
wing-its-two-year-effort-to-build-delivery-drones/.
139
Google, Introducing Project Wing, YOUTUBE (Aug. 28, 2014),
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRTNvWcx9Oo.
140
Richard Weiss, DHL Beats Amazon, Google to First Planned Drone Delivery, Bloomberg
Business (Sept. 24, 2014, 10:50 PM), http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-09-
25/dhl-beats-amazon-google-to-first-scheduled-drone-delivery.

In order for the above United States-based companies to further explore this
technology, they had to go outside the United States just to even test their small
drones legally in National Airspace.141
That is because in the United States, and
many in other countries, all of these drone delivery endeavors are illegal without
government authorization because they are considered commercial uses of drones.
This is why Google began testing deliveries on medications and dog food in
Australia. 142
Google also tested its drone quad copters by using them to
counteract illegal wildlife poaching in parts of Africa.143
However, it was two
non-United States-based companies that took the lead in the drone delivery race.
DHL, a German company, was the first big company to test drone delivery
to customers when it was granted clearance to offer the service on the entire
141
Jaikumar Vijayan, Drone Industry Association Says It’s Crucial To Let Company Test
Unmanned, Aerial Vehicles, COMPUTER WORLD (Aug. 27, 2014, 3:46 AM),
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2599405/emerging-technology/amazons-efforts-to-
test-drones-for-package-delivery-gain-support.html (“All of [Amazon’s] tests are being
carried out in indoor facilities or at overseas locations and involve battery-driven, rotor-
powered, unmanned aerial vehicles weighing less than 55 pounds.”).
142
Alistair Barr & Greg Bensinger, Google joins drone delivery battle, THE AUSTRALIAN
BUS. REV. (Aug. 30, 2014, 12:00 AM), http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/wall-street-
journal/google-joins-drone-delivery-battle/story-fnay3ubk-
1227041859539?nk=25c039104d7d1f64f40875b807f744f5 ([T]he FAA said it did not
contemplate autonomous drone delivery, effectively grounding Google’s and Amazon’s
ambitions for now . . .”).
143
Matthew Wall, Can Drones Help Tackle Africa’s Wildlife Poaching Crisis?, BBC NEWS
(July 21, 2014, 18:43), http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28132521 (On an African plain in
the dead of night, poachers can remain invisible to rangers just 100m away… hand-launched
drones with night vision can provide a very useful extra pair of eyes”).

35 of 72
German Island of Juist.144
Following suit, Amazon sought and was granted
government approval in the United Kingdom to test out its Prime Air service in
the city of Cambridge.145
However, before the American company could get its
Cambridge trials off of the ground, in February 2015, Amazon’s Chinese
competitor, Alibaba, announced and completed its own three-day drone delivery
trials of tea to four hundred fifty (450) participants in Beijing, Shanghai and
Guangzhou.146
(1)(a)(v) Wireless Internet / Wi-Fi Delivery
While these delivery services that make use of small drones are intriguing,
some experts say that such applications of drones are not feasible, and are instead,
just smoke and mirrors.147
Another use also being tested by Google, and even
144
Victoria Bryan, Drone delivery: DHL ‘parcelcopter’ flies to German isle, REUTERS (Sept.
24, 2014, 9:45 AM), http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/24/us-deutsche-post-drones-
idUSKCN0HJ1E920140924 (“…the first time an unmanned aircraft has been authorized to
deliver goods in Europe.”).
145
Natasha Lomas, Amazon Is Expanding Its R&D In Cambridge, U.K., With A Focus On
Prime Air Drones and Speech Tech, TECHCRUNCH (Nov. 11, 2014),
http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/11/amazon-cambridge-lab/.
146
Lulu Yilun Chen, Alibaba Drones Fly Over Beijing While Amazon Pleads for U.S. Tests,
BLOOMBERG BUSINESS (Feb. 03, 2015, 10:59 PM),
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-04/alibaba-drones-fly-over-beijing-as-
amazon-pleads-for-u-s-tests.
147
Antonio Hernandez, Wings Clipped: Amazon’s Prime Air Drone Delivery Pipe Dream, U.
MIAMI L REV. (Jan. 25, 2014), http://lawreview.law.miami.edu/wings-clipped-amazons-
prime-air-drone-delivery-pipe-dream.

Facebook, is the use of drones to deliver wireless Internet.148
Today, over a third
of the population of the world already has some access to the Internet.149
With
drone Internet delivery, that number could increase even further.150
Such an application of drone technology, according to Facebook’s plan,
would require the utilization of large solar powered drones that would be cable of
flying for years at a time, so high in the sky that people would not even know they
are there.151
The drone is said to be “close to the size of a 747 airliner.”152
Already, there are patents that have been filed that could easily be such a
communication drone capable of broadcasting wireless Internet.153
One example
148
Matthew Debord, You Won’t Even Know These Facebook Drones Are in the Sky,
BUSINESS INSIDER (Sept. 19, 2014, 1:51 PM), http://www.businessinsider.com/you-wont-
even-know-these-facebook-drones-are-in-the-sky-2014-9
149
See Matthew Debord, You Won’t Even Know These Facebook Drones Are in the Sky,
even-know-these-facebook-drones-are-in-the-sky-2014-9
150
See generally Matthew Debord, You Won’t Even Know These Facebook Drones Are in the
Sky, BUSINESS INSIDER (Sept. 19, 2014, 1:51 PM), http://www.businessinsider.com/you-
wont-even-know-these-facebook-drones-are-in-the-sky-2014-9
151
even-know-these-facebook-drones-are-in-the-sky-2014-9.
152
Winston Edmonson, Facebook’s Fleet of Jumbo Drones Will Take Flight by 2015,
SILICONANGLE (Sept. 24, 2014), http://siliconangle.com/blog/2014/09/24/facebooks-fleet-
of-jumbo-drones-will-take-flight-by-2015/.
153
E.g., U.S. Patent No. 20,140241239 A1 (filed Feb. 27, 2013), available at
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-
Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html&r=1
&f=G&l=50&s1=20140241239.PGNR [hereinafter Communication Architectures via UAV

37 of 72
utilizes previous patents for “distributed airborne wireless communications”,
describes itself as a “large high altitude long endurance…unmanned solar
aircraft”, and claims the following:
An unmanned solar-powered aircraft, comprising: a lightweight
solar wing comprising an airfoil profile, a top surface, a bottom
surface, a leading edge, a trailing edge, wing tips, and at least one
photovoltaic cell, wherein the surfaces and edges follow a negative
downward curvature bow shape across a span of the wing during
flight, and wherein the wing weight to surface area ratio is less
than 5 kg/m[^2]; a fuselage, and a propeller, wherein the fuselage
is placed below the solar wing and contains an electric motor, a
battery, and electronics.154
Alternatives to using drones are low orbiting satellites and balloons, both
being trialed by Google.155
However, low orbiting satellites are not very effective
in areas with a high density of people, and balloons are “harder to control” and
Patent]; see also U.S. Patent No. 84,48898 B1 (filed Apr. 30, 2012), available at
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-
Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-
bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN/8448898 [hereinafter
Autonomous Solar Aircraft Patent].
154
U.S. Patent No. 84,48898 B1 (filed Apr. 30, 2012), available at
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-
Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-
bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN/8448898 [hereinafter
Autonomous Solar Aircraft Patent].
155

“less durable” than their drone counterparts.156
(1)(a)(vi) Photography and Videography
In early 2014, the FAA made its first exceptions to its ban on commercial
drones.157
These exceptions were for both British Petroleum and ConocoPhillips
for surveying purposes.158
Other companies have sought creative loopholes to the
commercial ban, by offering it “pro-bono for working with [them].” 159
Anti-copyright groups have even expressed interest in using drone
technology to take Internet piracy to the high seas, effectively eliminating any
jurisdictional claims of copyright infringement (this was never carried out,
though).160
Hollywood production companies fought for the ban to be lifted for
them because drones are already able to efficiently replace aerial cinematography,
156
157
Bart Jansen, FAA Approves First Commercial Drone Over Land, USA TODAY (June 10,
2014, 12:03 PM), http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/06/10/faa-drones-bp-
oil-pipeline-aerovironment-north-shore/10264197/.
158
Bart Jansen, FAA Approves First Commercial Drone Over Land, USA TODAY (June 10,
2014, 12:03 PM), http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/06/10/faa-drones-bp-
oil-pipeline-aerovironment-north-shore/10264197/.
159
David Kravets, Drone Pilot Fights for Right to Profit in the Unmanned Skies, WIRED.COM
(Oct. 9, 2013) http://www.wired.com/2013/10/drones-at-a-crossroads/.
160
MrSpock, TPB Loss, Blog (Mar. 18, 2012), http://thepiratebay.se/blog/210 (“[W]e’re
going to experiment with sending out some small drones that will float some kilometers in the
air. This way our [servers] will have to be shut down with airplanes…[a] real act of war”).

39 of 72
and it is believed that with upcoming advances, that they would also be able to
replace costly cinematography cranes.161
Helicopters, which are considerably more expensive and dangerous than
small drones, alternatively, have been traditionally used for years to conduct
aerial cinematography and photography in film and television productions.162
For
example, in 2013, a helicopter filming for a Discovery Channel television show
production had an accident that resulted in three (3) fatalities.163
In fact, drones
are preferred to helicopters even by one of the most well-known aerial
cinematography pilots in the industry.164
Regulatory agencies in the United States were criticized because their
commercial ban caused production companies that were doing aerial
cinematography work with drones, to take their work to other countries, where
161
Jason Koebler, Drones Already Revolutionized Hollywood – And Have The Oscar to
Prove It, VICE.COM (June 05, 2014, 05:00 PM), http://motherboard.vice.com/read/drones-
already-revolutionized-hollywoodand-have-the-oscar-to-prove-it.
162
Richard Verrier, FAA Gives Drone Exemption to Hollywood Production Firms, LA TIMES
(Sept. 25, 2014, 10:47 AM), http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-
hollywood-drones-20140925-story.html.
163
Richard Verrier, FAA Gives Drone Exemption to Hollywood Production Firms, LA TIMES
(Sept. 25, 2014, 10:47 AM), http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-
hollywood-drones-20140925-story.html.
164
Kwame Opam, Hollywood’s go-to helicopter pilot can now fly drones instead, THE VERGE
(Feb. 03, 2015, 2:22 PM), http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/3/7971471/hollywood-helicopter-
pilot-fly-drones.

regulations on commercial drone use were not as strict.165
Then, on September
25, 2014, the Federal Aviation Administration granted COAs for seven (7)
Hollywood production companies, in what has become something of a victory for
the entire drone industry.166
However, the waiver required the authorized production companies to
follow strict guidelines remnant of manned aviation. For example, the operator or
supervisor next to the operator had to have a pilot’s license (for actual
airplanes). 167
Despite the waiver only being granted to seven production
companies, a large number of aerial cinematography companies operate in
violation of the ban.168
Between January 06 and February 06, 2015, Federal Aviation
165
Ed Pilkington, What’s Keeping America’s Private Drone Industry Grounded?, THE
GUARDIAN (Sept. 30, 2014, 11:18 AM),
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/29/drone-testers-faa-aviation-frustration-grows
166
Section 333, FAA (Feb. 06, 2015),
http://www.faa.gov/uas/legislative_programs/section_333/.
167
Gary Mortimer, FAA Requirements for Hollywood Exemptions, SUAS NEWS (Oct. 06,
2014), http://www.suasnews.com/2014/10/31628/faa-requirements-for-hollywood-
exemptions/.
168
Flying in the ‘Wild, Wild West’: Drone Regulations Still Unclear to Chattanooga
Companies, SUAS NEWS (Nov. 17, 2014), http://www.suasnews.com/2014/11/32734/flying-
in-the-wild-wild-west-drone-regulations-still-unclear-to-chattanooga-companies/; Ted Griggs,
Louisiana Abuzz With Growing Drone Business, THETOWNTALK (Nov. 16, 2014, 7:57 PM),
http://www.thetowntalk.com/story/news/local/2014/11/16/louisiana-abuzz-growing-drone-
business/19151049/.

41 of 72
Administration granted exemptions through COAs for six more companies for the
purpose of filming on closed-sets for productions in the motion picture and
television industries.169
While commercial drones have countless advantages, known now and to be
discovered in the future, the disadvantages are few. Essentially, the disadvantages
of drones can be fully represented by five categories: (1) complication due to their
variety of physical manifestations and technologies; (2) PR issues; (3) privacy
issues; (4) safety issues, including liability issues; and (5) enforcement issues.170
(2) Physical Characteristics of Drones
Drones come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes.171
The two
categories of shapes are fixed-wing (more akin to airplanes) and rotary wing
(more akin to helicopters). 172
The umbrella-term “drone” encompasses
mechanisms that range from weighing as much as thirty-two thousand two
hundred and fifty pounds (32, 250 lb.)173
to as little as seventeen-thousandths six-
169
Unmanned Aircraft Systems, FAA (Feb. 04, 2015, 11:37 AM), https://www.faa.gov/uas/.
170
All of these factors are discussed below.
171
Melanie Reid, Grounding Drones: Big Brother’s Tool Box Needs Regulation Not
Elimination, 20 RICH. J. L. & TECH. 9, 16 (2014).
172
HaiYang Chao et al., Autopilots for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: A Survey, 8 INT’L J.
OF CONTROL, AUTOMATION, AND SYSTEMS 36, 37 (2010).
173
Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk weight, NORTHROPGRUMMAN,
http://www.northropgrumman.com/capabilities/globalhawk/Pages/default.aspx.

millionth and thirty-seven hundred-millionth of a pound (0.00017637 lb.)174
. For
the purposes of this paper, civilian and commercial drones will fall under the
following four size categories: (1) small drones, (2) large drones, (3) in-between
drones, and (4) micro drones.
(2)(a)! Small Drones
Small drones are most akin to model aircraft.175
Further, today small drones
largely consist of multi-rotor miniature helicopters. The most popular multi-rotor
miniature helicopters have four rotating propellers (or rotors) and are known
simply as quad copters176
, such as DJI’s Phantom 2 Vision, which weighs two and
174
Autonomous Flying Microrobots (RoboBees), HARVARD: WYSS INSTITUTE,
http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpage/457.
175
The Associated Press, A Look at Proposed Drone Rules, ABC NEWS (Feb. 15, 2015, 9:26
PM), http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/proposed-drone-rules-28985815
(“[M]odel aircraft…are often indistinguishable from small drones”).
176
Who Builds The World’s Most Popular Drones?, WSJ BLOGS: CHINAREALTIME (Nov. 11,
2014, 12:29 PM), http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/11/11/who-builds-the-worlds-
most-popular-drones/; See Jim Martin, How to Choose a Quadcopter: Expert Drone Buying
Advice, PC ADVISOR UK (Mar. 12, 2015), http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/buying-
advice/gadget/3601312/2015-quadcopter-buying-guide/.

43 of 72
seventy-four hundredths of a pound (2.74 lb.)177
, and DJI’s Inspire 1, which
weighs six and a half pounds (6.5 lb.)178
. This paper will treat quad copters as the
standard for small drones.
(2)(b)! Large Drones
Large drones are most akin to large airplanes (commercial airliners)179
and
large helicopters. 180
These drones are used for military and governmental
purposes.181
Additionally, they are set to be used for commercial purposes such
as communication broadcasting. 182
Common examples of large drones for
military use include the RQ-4 Global Hawk183
, the IAI Eitan184
, and the MQ-9
177
See PHANTOM 2 VISON Specs, DJI (2015), http://www.dji.com/product/phantom-2-
vision/spec.
178
See INSPIRE 1 Specs, DJI (2015), http://www.dji.com/product/inspire-1/spec.
179
See generally Keith Wagstaff, Facebook Wi-Fi Drone the Size of 747 Could Fly in 2015,
NBC News (Sept. 24, 2014, 9:24 AM), http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/facebook-
wi-fi-drone-size-747-could-fly-2015-n210546; see also PAUL J. SPRINGER, MILITARY
ROBOTS AND DRONES: A REFERENCE HANDBOOK 254 (2013) (“the Global Hawk has a
wingspan broader than a Boeing 737”).
180
See V750 Intro, V750 SKY (2014), http://www.v750sky.com/.
181
See Rachel Glickhouse, Explainer: Drones in Latin America, AS/COA [AMERICAS
SOCIETY / COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAS] (Aug. 28, 2013), http://www.as-
coa.org/articles/explainer-drones-latin-america#mexico.
182
See Keith Wagstaff, Facebook Wi-Fi Drone the Size of 747 Could Fly in 2015, NBC News
(Sept. 24, 2014, 9:24 AM), http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/facebook-wi-fi-drone-size-747-
could-fly-2015-n210546.
183
PAUL J. SPRINGER, MILITARY ROBOTS AND DRONES: A REFERENCE HANDBOOK 41 (2013).

Reaper185
. Additionally, the K-MAX helicopter, while built for military use, has
many civilian and commercial applications. 186
Such applications include
precision firefighting, construction and delivering medical supplies after a
disaster.187
(2)(c)! In-Between Sized Drones
In-between drones are most akin to small airplanes or helicopters.188
These
drones are mostly used for agricultural and military purposes189
. A common
example of this type is the Yamaha RMAX, which weighs about two hundred
184
PAUL J. SPRINGER, MILITARY ROBOTS AND DRONES: A REFERENCE HANDBOOK 101
(2013).
185
PAUL J. SPRINGER, MILITARY ROBOTS AND DRONES: A REFERENCE HANDBOOK 41 (2013).
186
The Evolution of the K-Max Cargo UAS Technology, LOCKHEED MARTIN (2015),
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/kmax/cargo-uas-technology.html.
187
The Evolution of the K-Max Cargo UAS Technology, LOCKHEED MARTIN (2015),
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/kmax/cargo-uas-technology.html.
188
Predator RQ-1 /MQ-1 /MQ-9 Reaper UAV, United States of America, AIRFORCE-
TECHNOLOGY.COM, http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/predator-uav/; Fire Scout
Capabilities, Northrop Grumman (2015),
http://www.northropgrumman.com/Capabilities/firescout.
189
Steve Pounian and Justin Green, Unmanned Flight: Legal Challenges of Drones, N.Y. L.J.
(Oct. 23, 2014), http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/id=1202674269540 (“[t]he best known
use of…drones[]has been our military’s use of Predator drone for combat missions in Iraq and
Afghanistan”); Fire Scout Capabilities, Northrop Grumman (2015),
http://www.northropgrumman.com/Capabilities/firescout.

45 of 72
twenty pounds (220 lb.).190
(2)(d)! Micro Drones
Harvard’s RoboBee falls under a subcategory of small drones, known as
micro-drones. 191
Micro-drones (sometimes called “nano drones” or “insect
drones”) are flying mechanisms that are most akin to insects (such as a bee or
dragonfly), small birds (such as a hummingbird) or other flying species found in
nature.192
The mechanics behind these devices are not like the other drones,
which use rotors or fixed wings with propulsion to fly.
Instead, micro-drones’ mechanics are actually modeled after the same flying
species in nature that they look like. For example, there is a hummingbird drone
and a dragonfly drone that each use the flapping of “wings” to push the air
beneath the craft in order to fly.193
While commercial drones can come in many different physical shapes and
190
Rachael King. Yamaha Waits for FAA Approval on Agricultural Drone, WSJ (Oct. 16,
2014), http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2014/10/16/yamaha-waits-for-faa-approval-on-agricultural-
drone/.
191
Autonomous Flying Microrobots (RoboBees), HARVARD: WYSS INSTITUTE,
http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpage/457.
192
Christopher Harress, Here’s What the Future of Insect and Nano Drones Looks Like
[VIDEO], Int’l Bus. Times (Jan. 09, 2014, 8:31 AM), http://www.ibtimes.com/heres-what-
future-insect-nano-drones-looks-video-1532592.
193
Christopher Harress, Here’s What the Future of Insect and Nano Drones Looks Like
[VIDEO], Int’l Bus. Times (Jan. 09, 2014, 8:31 AM), http://www.ibtimes.com/heres-what-
future-insect-nano-drones-looks-video-1532592.

sizes that can create confusion in creating a regulatory framework to cover all of
them, they mostly share the same technological protections and vulnerabilities.
(3) Technological Protections and Vulnerability of Drones
Some of the latest of the technologies that are currently being explored in
the field of aviation are the civil and commercial use of unmanned flight via
domestic drones194
and space exploration195
. While unmanned flight has been
used in many instances of space exploration (most recently with the military’s X-
37, which completed an unmanned flight into space lasting more than 2 years)196
.
This paper will not discuss civil space exploration. However, there are many
beneficial uses to drone technology (explored above). These technologies can
have built-in protection that can serve as a soft-law self regulator, but they also
have known vulnerabilities as well.
(3)(a) Technological Protections
194
See Nayef Al-Rodhan, The Many Ethical Implications of Emerging Technologies,
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN (Mar. 13, 2015), http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-many-
ethical-implications-of-emerging-technologies/.
195
See Mark Prigg, The X-37B has landed! Top-secret space plane lands on California coast
after almost TWO YEARS in orbit - and the government still refuses to reveal what it was
doing, DAILY MAIL (Oct. 17, 2014), http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-
2797493/Top-secret-space-plane-lands-California-coast.html.
196
Space Plane: Mysterious US Military Plane Returns to Earth, BBC News US & Canada
(Oct. 17, 2014, 6:15 PM), http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29669205.

47 of 72
Nobel Prize winner, Albert Einstein, once said, “Look deep into nature,
and then you will understand everything better.”197
One thing we can learn from
nature is why birds do not fly into each other. The answer is that, “[Individual
birds] within a flock [do not] fly into each other because each bird maintains a
personal space around [itself], called ‘individual distance.’ As this space is
encroached upon, the bird instantaneously flies in the opposite direction”.198
In
other words, the bird senses when other birds get too close, and it instinctually
avoids the encroaching birds.199
Could drones be programmed to do the same thing as birds? The biggest
hurdle with sense and avoid protection-technology is not so much developing the
capability as much as it is making it affordable.200
Another technological protection within drone technology is programmed
flight limitation.201
Such a protection can limit a drone from being able to exceed
197
ELAINE WILKES, NATURE’S SECRET MESSAGES HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT xii (2011).
198
TREVOR CARNABY, BEAT ABOUT THE BUSH: BIRDS 294 (2009).
199
See generally TREVOR CARNABY, BEAT ABOUT THE BUSH: BIRDS 294 (2009).
200
See Maj. Stephen Maddox & Capt. David Stuckenberg, Drones in the U.S. National
Airspace System: A Safety and Security Assessment, HARV. NAT’L SECURITY J. (Feb. 24,
2015, 10:53 AM), harvardnsj.org/2015/02/drones-in-the-u-s-national-airspace-system-a-
safety-and-security-assessment.
201
See generally DJI, DJI - Phantom Firmware Update Safety Feature Integration, YouTube
(Apr. 9, 2014), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoXAMRQoIAA.

certain altitudes or from entering certain off-limit airspace, such as near airports
or a place like the White House.202
(3)(b) Technological Vulnerabilities
In addition to those protections, the technology also has some
vulnerabilities. For example, in 2010, a United States military helicopter drone
lost all communication, control and failed to implement its “return-to-base”
protocol.203
This vulnerability is huge — the vulnerability to hacking.204
The vulnerability to hacking is brought about by exploiting a known
function of drones — that the vast majority of drone use a Global Positioning
System (or GPS) in order to navigate. 205
Hackers can exploit this through a
practice known as GPS Spoofing (tricking the drone into thinking the forged
coordinates that you feed it is where it is).206
202
See generally DJI, DJI - Phantom Firmware Update Safety Feature Integration, YouTube
(Apr. 9, 2014), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoXAMRQoIAA.
203
See Kyle Wesson & Todd Humphreys, Better Security Measures Are Needed Before
Drones Roam the U.S. Airspace, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Vol. 309, Issue 5.
204
See Kyle Wesson & Todd Humphreys, Better Security Measures Are Needed Before
Drones Roam the U.S. Airspace, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Vol. 309, Issue 5.
205
Kyle Wesson & Todd Humphreys, Unhackable Drones: The Challenges of Securely
Integrating Unmanned Aircraft into the National Airspace 3 (Apr. 01, 2013) (unpublished
manuscript), available at
https://radionavlab.ae.utexas.edu/images/stories/files/papers/unhackabledrones_for_distributi
on.pdf.
206

49 of 72
How [is] this possible? Spoofing signals can be near-perfect
forgeries of authentic GPS signals because (1) the civil GPS signal
definition is publicity available [(as opposed the encrypted military
GPS signals)], and (2) there are no security provisions, such as
digital watermarking or encryption, to thwart counterfeiters.207
However, even though military GPS signals are encrypted, military drones
are not unhackable because military drones seem to use the same unencrypted
GPS signals as other drones.208
For example, Wesson and his professor of
Autonomy and Robotics, at The University of Texas at Austin, Todd E.
Humphreys, got the United States’ Department Homeland Security’s permission
to try to take over a military drone (the same kind use in Pakistan, Afghanistan,
and Iraq) from outside the military base.209
Within no time, the academics took
over the hulking military aircraft, with a GPS spoofer device, and “induced it to
on.pdf.
207
on.pdf.
208
See generally Kyle Wesson & Todd Humphreys, Better Security Measures Are Needed
Before Drones Roam the U.S. Airspace, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Vol. 309, Issue 5.
209
See Statement on the Vulnerability of Civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Other Systems
to Civil GPS Spoofing H. Comm. on Homeland Security, 112th Cong. 4 (2012) (statement of
Todd Humphreys).

plummet toward to desert floor” (recovering it at the last minute because it was an
eighty thousand dollar ($80,000) drone).210
In response, the military announced it had built a drone that is
“impervious” from its control and navigation of the aircraft from being
hacked”.211
They bolstered the claim by asserting that they got expert hackers to
try to hack into it to no avail.212
If the drone remains “hack-proof,” the military
hopes it will introduce the software for commercial use.213
Another vulnerability of commercial drones is malware.214
From a close
proximity, a hacker can install malware on some drones, by exploiting a
210
See Statement on the Vulnerability of Civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Other Systems
to Civil GPS Spoofing H. Comm. on Homeland Security, 112th Cong. 2, 4-5 (2012)
(statement of Todd Humphreys).
211
See Jaikumar Vijayan, DARPA Unveils Hack-Proof Drone Tech: New Unmanned Aerial
Vehicle Will be Impervious to Hacker Attacks, Agency Says, ComputerWorld (May 27, 2014,
4:49 PM), http://www.computerworld.com/article/2489864/vertical-it/darpa-unveils-hack-
proof-drone-tech.html.
212
213
214
See Thomas Fox-Brewster, Maldrone: Watch Malware That Wants to Spread Its Wings
[and] Kill A Drone Mid-Flight, FORBES (Jan. 27, 2015, 1:31 PM),
http://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2015/01/27/malware-takes-down-drone/.

51 of 72
“backdoor”.215
Once the malware is installed, the hacker can fly the drone to
anywhere it wants or it can execute a “kill command,” rendering the quad-copter
immobile, even in mid-flight.216
The last vulnerability of drones that we will discuss does not involve a
hacker.217
It is when the operator loses all control of the drone due to what is
known as a “flyaway”.218
Flyaways can happen due to getting caught in a gale,
and before you know it, it is gone with the wind.219
It is also possible that a
flyaway can happen due to a glitch with the drone.220
For example, the operator
215
216
217
See generally Rosemary Regina Sobol, Popular Hobby Drones Pose Danger When
Drivers Lose Control, CHICAGO TRIBUNE (Jan. 23, 2015, 9:37 AM),
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-as-drones-grow-in-popularity-so-
too-the-danger-of-flyaways-20150122-story.html.
218
Rosemary Regina Sobol, Popular Hobby Drones Pose Danger When Drivers Lose
Control, CHICAGO TRIBUNE (Jan. 23, 2015, 9:37 AM),
219
See generally Rosemary Regina Sobol, Popular Hobby Drones Pose Danger When
Drivers Lose Control, CHICAGO TRIBUNE (Jan. 23, 2015, 9:37 AM),
220
See generally Mike Levine, White House Crash Drone Owner Blames Manufacturer
Glitch for ‘Whole Fiasco’, ABC News (Jan. 29, 2015, 9:00 PM),

of the drone that crashed on the White House grounds blamed the incident on his
drone going “rogue” due to a flaw in the drone itself.221
However, it was later
found that he was also drunk at the time.222
With drone operators flying drunk and drones able to be hacked or just fly
away, the public has some very real concerns regarding privacy, safety, and
insurability of commercial drones.
(4) “Mayday, Mayday!!”: The Public Policy Concerns Regarding Drones
(4)(a) Change The Name, Change the Game
It is not a secret that the public suffers from a negative perception of drones
just from the terminology alone. 223
Time Magazine characterized the
nomenclature used to describe and define drones as evoking a “reaction similar to
the word ‘sweatshops,’” thanks to “the ugly side of how Predator and Reaper
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/white-house-crash-drone-owner-blames-manufacturer-
glitch/story?id=28586890.
221
Mike Levine, White House Crash Drone Owner Blames Manufacturer Glitch for ‘Whole
Fiasco’, ABC News (Jan. 29, 2015, 9:00 PM), http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/white-house-
crash-drone-owner-blames-manufacturer-glitch/story?id=28586890.
222
See Michael D. Shear & Michael S. Schmidt, White House Drone Crash Described as a
U.S. Worker’s Drunken Lark, NY TIMES (Jan. 27, 2015),
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/us/white-house-drone.html.
223
See Medea Benjamin, Good Drone, Bad Drone: How to Fix the Drone PR Problem, TIME
(July 09, 2014), http://time.com/2970027/drones-pr-problem/.

53 of 72
drones [(military drones)] kill innocent people overseas.”224
The term “drone” can be used to describe a humming sound or a male
bee.225
It is also used to describe a vast range of manifestations of flying
mechanisms that do not have a pilot on board the flying craft.226
The term,
however, is probably most synonymous with a subset of the latter definition: a
deadly military flying craft that is responsible for many innocent deaths around
the world through a practice known as “drone strikes”.227
In fact, the association of the term “drone” with drone strikes is so strong in
the United States, that a White House official commented that due to the United
States’ worldwide utilization of military drone strikes, that across the globe even
224
Medea Benjamin, Good Drone, Bad Drone: How to Fix the Drone PR Problem, TIME
(July 09, 2014), http://time.com/2970027/drones-pr-problem/.
225
Drone Definition, OXFORDDICTIONARIES.COM,
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/drone (last visited Oct. 24,
2014).
226
John Villasenor, What Is a Drone Anyway?, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN (April 12, 2012),
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/04/12/what-is-a-drone-anyway/.
227
Steve Pounian and Justin Green, Unmanned Flight: Legal Challenges of Drones, N.Y. L.J.
(Oct. 23, 2014), http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/id=1202674269540 (“[t]he best known
use of drones has been our military’s use of Predator drones for combat missions in Iraq and
Afghanistan”); see generally Peter Lee, Drone Laws — Shaping an Industry, SCL (Mar. 08,
2014), http://www.scl.org/site.aspx?i=ed38095 (Lee “[t]end[s] to use the commonly
understood term drones, acknowledging…negative connotations linked to controversial
military uses”); see Michael Hastings, The Rise of the Killer Drones: How America Goes to
War in Secret, ROLLING STONE (April 16, 2012),
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-rise-of-the-killer-drones-how-america-goes-to-
war-in-secret-20120416.

the term “White House” is now being associated with “wedding parties blown to
bits, of sleeping children eviscerated by flying shards of burning metal, [and] of
farmers in their fields atomized by missiles.”228
Such military and Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) sponsored drone strikes have been heavily criticized
by law of war experts as possible violations of international law.229
For example,
in his address to the United States House of Representatives, law of war expert
and military drone law expert, David W. Glazier expressed that “the use of CIA
personnel to conduct armed attacks clearly fall outside the scope of permissible
conduct”.230
For this reason, the term, “drone” has been widely criticized for being used
for describing the non-military, civil applications of the technology.231
Given the
negative associations with the term, the drone industry attempted to drop the term
228
Chris Floyd, White House Threatened by Drones, COUNTER PUNCH (Jan. 27, 2015),
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/27/white-house-threatened-by-drones/.
229
See David W. Glazier, The Drone — It’s In The Way That You Use It 20 (Loyola-LA
Legal Studies Paper No. 2015-02), available at
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2563657; see also Mary Ellen O’Connell,
Unlawful Killing with Combat Drones — A Case Study of Pakistan, 2004-2009 25-26 (Notre
Dame Law School Legal Studies Paper No. 09-43), available at
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract-id=1501144.
230
Hearing on Rise of the Drones II: Examining the Legality of Unmanned Targeting Before
the H. Comm. on Oversight and Gov’t Reform, 111th Cong. 6 (2010) (statement of David W.
Glazier).
231
Medea Benjamin, Good Drone, Bad Drone: How to Fix the Drone PR Problem, TIME (Jul.
09, 2014), http://time.com/2970027/drones-pr-problem/.

55 of 72
in favor of a host of other terms.232
Such other terms include the following:
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)233
, Unmanned Aircraft (UA)234
, Remotely
Piloted Aircraft (RPA)235
, Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS), Remotely
Piloted Air System (RPAS)236
, Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV)237
, Remotely
Operated Aircraft (ROA) 238
, Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle (UAV) 239
, and
232
233
Benjamyn Ian Scott, Civil Aviation Authority v. Robert Knowles: The First Conviction in
the UK for the Illegal Use of an Unmanned Aircraft and how it Can Help Improves
Regulations within the European Union 6 (Leiden University LL.M. Adv. Studies in Air and
Space Law), available at http://eala.aero/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Benjamyn-Scott-
EALA-Essay-Prize-Paper-2nd-Place.pdf.
234
Benjamyn Ian Scott, Civil Aviation Authority v. Robert Knowles: The First Conviction in
the UK for the Illegal Use of an Unmanned Aircraft and how it Can Help Improves
Regulations within the European Union 6 (Leiden University LL.M. Adv. Studies in Air and
Space Law), available at http://eala.aero/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Benjamyn-Scott-
EALA-Essay-Prize-Paper-2nd-Place.pdf.
235
Roger Clarke, Understanding the Drone Epidemic (Jan. 04, 2014),
http://rogerclarke.com/SOS/Drones-E-131214.html.
236
Peter Lee, Drone Laws — Shaping an Industry, SCL (Mar. 08, 2014),
http://www.scl.org/site.aspx?i=ed38095
237
238
239
Ian Henderson, International Law Concerning the Status and Marking of Remotely Piloted
Aircraft 39 DENVER J. INT’L L. & POL’Y 615 (2011).

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)240
.
With all of these similar terms, it is not hard to imagine that it must have
created some confusion. In addition to the industry, the media was also a
contributor to the confusion. Thus, when replacing the term “drone” failed to fix
the PR problem, by creating confusion, the industry turned its focus to reframing
the term by emphasizing the beneficial uses of the technology.241
(4)(b) The Public’s Privacy Concerns Regarding Commercial Drone Use
Lately, drones and their privacy concerns have been a popular topic in
society.242
On Monday, January 26, 2015, a crashed DJI Phantom drone was
found on the White House grounds in the United States.243
Strong government-
surveillance proponent and chair of the Senate Intelligence committee, Senator
Dianne Feinstein, stated that civilian drones are the biggest threat to privacy
240
Peter Lee, Drone Laws — Shaping an Industry, SCL (Mar. 08, 2014),
http://www.scl.org/site.aspx?i=ed38095.
241
242
Denise Johnson, The Future of Drone in the Insurance Industry, INSURANCE JOURNAL
(Mar. 7, 2014), http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2014/03/07/322658.htm
(“one of the biggest concerns that people toss out there is privacy”).
243
Michael D. Shear & Michael S. Schmidt, White House Drone Crash Described as a U.S.
Worker’s Drunken Lark, NY TIMES (Jan. 27, 2015),
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/us/white-house-drone.html.

57 of 72
today.244
Experts such as John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute,
share these sentiments too. 245
Commercial drones have an uphill battle in winning over the public, due
to the public’s privacy concerns regarding drones. An Associated Press-GfK poll
found that the vast majority of Americans believed that to benefits of commercial
drones do not outweigh the privacy risks.246
However, it should be mentioned
that ninety-five percent (95%) of those polled admitted to having never operated a
drone or model aircraft. 247
Another study conducted by the European
Commission recommends that, to appease such public privacy concerns, drone
operators and manufacturers should raise awareness “of privacy and data
protection” in the use of commercial drones.248
As support, it noted, “a survey
244
The NSA’s Biggest Supporter is Worried About Drone Privacy Issues, VICE (Jan. 15, 2014,
07:00 PM), http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/the-nsas-biggest-supporter-is-worried-about-
drone-privacy-issues.
245
Karl Tate, Poll: Most Americans Think Future Tech Will Make Life Better (Infographic),
LIVESCIENCE (April 17, 2014, 08:11 AM), http://www.livescience.com/44886-poll-
americans-future-tech-infographic.html.
246
Joan Lowy & Jennifer Agiesta, AP-GfK Poll: Americans Skeptical of Commercial Drones,
ASSOCIATED PRESS (Dec. 19, 2014), http://ap-gfkpoll.com/featured/findings-from-our-latest-
poll-10.
247
The AP-GfK Poll December, 2014, ASSOCIATED PRESS, http://ap-gfkpoll.com/main/wp-
content/uploads/2014/12/AP-GfK_Poll_December_2014_Drones.pdf.
248
EC, Study on privacy, data protection and ethical risks in civil Remotely Piloted Aircraft
Systems operations, at 359, final (Nov. 19, 2014), available at
http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/8550/attachments/1/translations/en/renditions/pdf.

JmP - n. pub.

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to JmP - n. pub.

Similar to JmP - n. pub. (19)

JmP - n. pub.