Drone Regulation in The USA

an update on Drone regulations .... recently the New Scientist ran an article about Drone regulations

Drone law: Flying into a legal twilight zone - tech - 15 May 2014 - New Scientist

This part of the article.
 ...

Emfinger and others like him could be forgiven for failing to anticipate the agency's ire. Though he is one of thousands of drone-owners in the US – with most craft being the small, quadcopter variety – there are no official regulations on how to operate them in the US. Even the current ban against flying them for commercial purposes, which Emfinger flouted, comes from a 2007 policy statement, not a law.

Under congressional order, the FAA must open national airspace to commercial and civilian drones by the end of 2015. In the meantime, enthusiasts are taking to the air with little understanding of what's allowed and what's not. As they do, they are showcasing the many benefits of civilian drones while risking running afoul of local authorities. "I'd describe this as a car crash in slow motion," says Matthew Waite, director of the Drone Journalism Lab at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. "I'm afraid the situation we're in right now, the longer that this takes, the more people are just going to flout the rules."

Other countries are adjusting faster to the new air traffic. In Germany, drone operators are required to obtain licences and abide by a set of safety and privacy regulations. In Canada, businesses that use drones must submit detailed flight plans.

Wow that was quick - the Google car goes the next step

I have said in the past in this blog that the Google car is coming, I just didn't expect it to quite be speeding up this way.

It has been announced that Google will be producing a number of its own vehicles to up the number of prototypes on the road.

See.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/28/google-reveals-driverless-car-prototype

and...
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/28/google-self-driving-car-how-does-it-work


What I will emphasise is that the second article includes the following comment.

What about legislation?One of the biggest hold-ups to the progression of the technology onto the open road of Britain, the US, Australia and the rest of the world will be legislation.
A law was passed in California over a year ago that made the testing and operation of self-driving vehicles on roads possible, as long as they had manual override controls. The Department of Motor Vehicles in California is expected to issue regulations on the operation of self-driving cars soon, after which self-driving cars may become a bit more common place. 

However, there is still much to work out, primarily revolving around what a passenger in a self-driving car and can’t do – will they have to be able to take control at any moment, for instance – as well as questions around what happens when an accident happens, who is at fault and who pays.

In the age of disruptive innovation, policy and regulation velocity matters. 

Uber, taxis, regulation the backlash...

Sorry to not keep this blog up to speed, but the flood of regulatory related news is a bit overwhelming and I tend to put it off.

Over the summer I plan to catch up a bit on the news but both drones and Bitcoin which I was blogging closely for a few months have really heated up.

Now it is Taxis apps. From Sydney Australia to London England, apps like Uber are as they say moving people. Its turning nasty in Europe with strikes and fights.

I feel sorry for the Taxi drivers - its tough economically but now apps like these will take their jobs. But this ain't the iceberg - that is still coming. Driverless cars will rally bite into the business models and probably sooner than people think.

Malware infects fridge

It has recently come to light that connected devices have been sending spam http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25780908 So malware can now infect your fridge - at least its communications system - can it also infect its control system?

The Current on CBC just did (20 January 2014)  a really well constructed program on the issue. http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2014/01/20/whats-hidden-among-the-internet-of-things/

Okay, so that is one issue your fridge gets infected. But there is another issue why do companies want to connect your fridge in the first place? They sell it as smart to you but what's in it for you - they want your data.

In an interview on the program Prof Avner Levin, Director of The Privacy and Cyber Crime Institute, at Ryerson voiced many of the concerns dear to this blog. The legal structures are not just out of date but the very concepts they are based on are last century.

One person interviewed on the program linked about called for more informed consent - but is that workable - we would be inundated with paper.

So another example of the need for a more concerted effort to research new legal concepts.So the story continues....

More on Bitcoin....

Volatility continues - Bitcoin hits $1,000 USD.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25120731

U.S. Senate holds hearings on Bitcoin
http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/hearings/beyond-silk-road-potential-risks-threats-and-promises-of-virtual-currencies



The Canada government's taxation agency (Canadian Revenue Agency) calls bitcoin bartering.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/nwsrm/fctshts/2013/m11/fs131105-eng.html?rss

Policy and legislative velocity database

I am working on a adding a velocity database to this blog. Unfortunately blogger does not yet allow different designs layouts to be applied to different pages.

So as soon as I have reconfigured the design and done some coding for the Database page I will make it live.

Having the database as a separate static page will allow for easier updating.

BITCOIN ATM

It seems the Bitcoin phenomena is gathering a bit of speed.

Today, it was announced that entrepreneurs in Vancouver are creating Bitcoin ATMs. Put cash in to get bitcoins.





This it seems is a bit of a game changer. For me the limitation of this technology has always been its diffusion. Tech savvy criminal elements and other techies may have been interested but general diffusion - not likely. However, an ATM does change that trajectory. Who's awake in Ottawa?