A March decision by a federal judge that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) does not have the legal authority to ban drones from the sky is spurring growth in the drone industry. The government will surely develop new rules for the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) but not easily. Brendan Schulman a lawyer representing a drone operator said that “Given the myriad applications for the technology, the scope of ‘drone law’ is broad, stretching from freedom of speech and press concerns to issues around intellectual property or land use rights, as well as more practical matters of insurance and liability.” (CNN, April 9, 2014, by Clay Dillow)
The FAA recently advised a news agency not to publish a donated video taken by a model airplane, hinting that it would take legal action should it publish. “…even if the FAA’s purported ban were enforceable, it is likely unconstitutional when applied to photography and news gathering. First, as currently applied, model aircraft are specifically banned for journalists, even though they are legal for hobbyists. This is an unconstitutional content-based restriction on speech because it discriminates on the basis of the speaker’s identity. Second, just because First Amendment activity is undertaken for compensation or commercial purposes does not mean it loses its protection. If it did, newspapers would have no more protections than beer companies, which is not the case. Third, telling a news organization that they should not publish content obtained by someone else is a classic prior restraint on speech and is unconstitutional,” writes Sean Lawson in Forbes, April 8, 2014.
The FAA has set up test sites for UAS around the country and has set an August deadline for determining the rules for their use. (The Washington Post, April 8, 2014, by Brian Fung)