Episodes
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That's a wrap. The podcast is closing for good at the end of 2017.
Thanks for everything.
-Steve
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You are doing something heroic. Make it a good story.
Links for You:
State Drone Law on Amazon
The Horse and His Boy
Listen in iTunes
Listen in Stitcher
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Thanks for Everything,
-Steve
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Episodes manquant?
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Today we have a real treat. Professor Shawn Bayern joins us to talk about artificial intelligence “inhabiting” business organizations. The ghost in the LLC, if you will.
You may recall our conversation with Matt Scherer recently, where he took issue with Bayern’s ideas on business entities without humans in them.
This conversation is the “counterpoint” to that conversation, at least at one level. Then we go deeper. Way deeper. And we touch on the things that really matter in this area of law, thought, and philosophy.
One warning, though: We go deep fast. And we don’t lay a lot of groundwork for the things we launch into.
So if you haven’t heard our talk with Matt Scherer yet, go listen to that first. That will give you background enough to ride along on these issues.
Or just jump in. Do what you feel.
Links for You:
Shawn Bayern’s FSU Page
Bayern: Implications of Modern Business-Entity Law for the Regulation of Autonomous Systems
Bayern: Bitcoins and Independently Wealthy Software
Bayern: Company Law and Autonomous Systems
Bayern: Dynamic Common Law and Bitcoin
Holmes: The Common Law
Kurzweil: The Singularity is Near
Lem: Summa Technologiae
Chalmers: The Conscious Mind
Robots Are Not People, with Matt Scherer
State Drone Law on Amazon
Listen in iTunes
Listen in Stitcher
Listen on YouTube
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Thanks for Everything,
-Steve
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New things are happening.
The first new thing is the publication of State Drone Law (Second Edition). If you’re on the mailing list, you already got a free copy. (If you’re not, sign up at www.dronelawtoday.com/book and get yours). Hard copies are up on Amazon. Leave us a review there – those five-star ratings really matter.
The second new thing is that we finally have a federal preemption ruling on local drone laws. Check out the order in Singer v. City of Newton, below.
The third new thing is what comes next for this podcast. You might already have a sense of where we’re going next if you’ve been paying close attention. Tune in for a preview of what 2018 may bring.
Links for You:
State Drone Law on Amazon
Order from Singer v. City of Newton
NeuraLink Article (from Wait but Why)
Listen on YouTube
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Keep on Flying,
-Steve
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This episode was one of the best conversations I’ve ever had in my life. This was something special.
Matt Scherer, the A.I. Lawyer himself, joins us again to talk about his recent blog posts on “Robotic Personhood.”
Here’s the set-up: A well-regarded law professor, Shawn Bayern, published a law review article arguing that it is possible under current limited liability company (“LLC”) laws to create a legal entity (an LLC) that was completely run and occupied by an Artificial Intelligence system.
Essentially, Bayern’s argument was that you could create an “A.I. Person” under the current laws, in that you could have a legal entity operating without any human involved.
That’s an “out there” concept.
Matt disagreed with Bayern’s arguments. He laid out his counter-arguments in a series of blog posts, linked down below, that “go deep” into the statutory analysis.
So we get into that a little bit.
But the bigger conversation we started having was about the bigger concept of A.I. personhood. How do you even think about that? Why should you care?
Well, you should care.
This may be the biggest legal question our society has ever faced.
If you know me by now, Drone Law Nation, you know that I play it straight with you. This time is no different. I really think that this issue is a big freaking deal. It’s something we have to talk about.
This episode records our attempt to do just that. To talk about things that are hard to even describe.
Listen in.
And think about what’s next.
Drone Law Nation is the Best.
Drone Law Nation, you are THE BEST. Thank to everyone who has clicked the “Support” link at www.dronelawtoday.com/support before doing your Amazon shopping. It costs you nothing extra, and a few pennies are thrown back our way. Thank you for your support.
Links for You:
Matt Scherer’s Law Firm Contact Information
AI Personhood Blog Post Part 1
AI Personhood Blog Post Part 2
AI Personhood Blog Post Part 3
Professor Bayern’s Article
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. – The Common Law
Our first interview with Matt
Our first “AI” episode
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Keep on Flying,
-Steve
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Brian Wynne is working for you every day, whether you know it or not. As President and CEO of AUVSI, the leading trade organization for the drone industry, Mr. Wynne is working to make the world safe for drones as the federal, state, and international levels.
If you are not yet familiar with Mr. Wynne, here is an abbreviated biography:
Brian Wynne is president and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), the world's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of unmanned systems and robotics. AUVSI represents more than 7,000 members from more than 60 countries involved in the fields of government, industry and academia. AUVSI members work in the defense, civil and commercial markets. Wynne brings in-depth experience in transportation and technology applications gained through leadership roles with industry associations and public-private partnerships. Prior to joining AUVSI in January 2015, he was president and CEO of the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA), the trade association promoting battery, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell electric drive technologies and infrastructure.
Wynne is a member of the Drone Advisory Committee (DAC), a group of key decision-makers formed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to support the safe introduction of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the nation’s airspace. He is also a member of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Safety Team (UAST), which is comprised of stakeholders from government and the aviation industry that gather and analyze data to enhance UAS safety and operations. He also served on the FAA’s UAS Registration and Micro UAS task forces.
For more than 20 years, Wynne has been an instrument-rated, general aviation pilot, and recently received a commercial pilot certificate. He flies a Socata Trinidad.
Tune in for Mr. Wynne’s perspective on drone law and policy, here in 2017.
You are all so awesome.
Drone Law Nation, you are all so awesome. Thank to everyone who has clicked the “Support” link at www.dronelawtoday.com/support before doing your Amazon shopping. It costs you nothing extra, and a few pennies are thrown back our way. Enough of you have done this that we have covered two months of hosting fees. That’s huge, because it’s an indication that this podcast can be self-sustaining. If it is, then we can continue for as long as the audience is there. As long as you are there, Drone Law Nation.
Thank you all for your support.
Links for You:
AUVSI Website: www.auvsi.org
Fighting For Our Future: Our talk with Tom McMahon of AUVSI
Brent Klavon: President of the AUVSI Florida Peninsula Chapter
Telling Better Stories
Fighting to Win
Listen in iTunes
Listen in Stitcher
Listen on YouTube
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Keep on Flying,
-Steve
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Do you know The Drone Analyst, Colin Snow? Are you reading his reports?
If you aren’t, get ready: your world is about to change.
Mr. Snow has been putting out top-quality research on the commercial drone industry since 2012. We had an opportunity to have him on the podcast to share his insight into what’s going on in the industry now, and where we might be headed in the future.
As a matter of background, here is Mr. Snow’s abbreviated biography – this guy is for real:
Colin Snow is CEO and Founder of Skylogic Research, LLC and operates under the brand Drone Analyst®. Colin is a 25 year technology industry veteran with a background in market research, enterprise software, electronics, digital imaging, and mobility. His experience includes aerial photography as well as making, programming, and piloting remote control aircraft. Colin holds an MBA from Florida Atlantic University and is a member of all major UAS industry groups including: AUVSI, RCAPA, and AMA.
Skylogic Research is a research, content, and advisory services firm supporting all participants in the commercial unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) industry. We help you make critical investment decisions with confidence by providing research-based insights on the commercial drone markets. Our focus is on the needs of three constituents:
Manufacturers, suppliers, and business service providers – who need research and insight into buyer needs Buyers of UAS technology and services – to help inform their acquisition decisions Investors – who need to distinguish technical and market viabilityThis focus, plus research as a foundation and reach into a community of more than 90,000 business executives and innovators through social media and media partnerships, allows us to deliver a high-value, low-risk method for achieving optimal understanding.
Tune in for all that and more!
Thank you again, so very much
Drone Law Nation! You are too much! Thank to everyone who has clicked the “Support” link at www.dronelawtoday.com/support before doing your Amazon shopping. It costs you nothing extra, and a few pennies are thrown back our way. Enough of you have done this that we have covered two months of hosting fees. That’s huge, because it’s an indication that this podcast can be self-sustaining. If it is, then we can continue for as long as the audience is there. As long as you are there, Drone Law Nation.
Thank you all for your support.
Links for You:
Drone Analyst Website: www.droneanalyst.com
Drone Analyst Twitter: @droneanalyst
Listen in iTunes
Listen in Stitcher
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Keep on Flying,
-Steve
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Drone Law Nation, there’s never a dull moment in the drone law world, is there? A huge decision was handed down last month from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In the case of Taylor v. FAA, the Court held that the FAA’s drone registration requirement for hobbyists was illegal.
When I say illegal, I mean that it went against Section 336 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. That was a law passed by Congress and signed by the President. In our governmental system, a federal agency cannot do things that are banned by a federal statute. And that is what the Court held that the drone registration system did – it went against the text of the statute that prevented FAA regulation of model aircraft.
Today’s episode is a talk with John Taylor, the plaintiff in the case. Joining us is the (ever amazing) Jonathan Rupprecht, who you will know from prior episodes. Jonathan helped Mr. Taylor with the case.
This talk is an “inside view” of how the litigation went down. We also get into the “details” of what the Court did and why it made its decision.
Join us in reliving this important part of the history of U.S. drone law.
A Note About Support
Thank you to everyone that has clicked the “Support” link at www.dronelawtoday.com/support before doing your Amazon shopping. It costs you nothing extra, and a few pennies are thrown back our way. Enough of you have done this that we have covered two months of hosting fees. That’s huge, because it’s an indication that this podcast can be self-sustaining. If it is, then we can continue for as long as the audience is there. As long as you are there, Drone Law Nation.
Thank you all for your support.
Links for You:
Amazon Support Link
Taylor v. FAA Decision
Section 336 (search for “336” in the .pdf)
www.jrupprechtlaw.com
Our first talk with Jonathan Rupprecht
Our second talk with him Jonathan Rupprecht
The Pirker Case and FAA Drone Regulation
Listen in iTunes
Listen in Stitcher
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Keep on Flying,
-Steve
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When Part 107 came out last year, I wondered whether this podcast would still be useful. I wondered if it would still serve the purpose we started with – to clear up “drone law” issues that the world seemed confused about.
With the FAA’s regulations on commercial use *finally* coming out last August, I thought that the misunderstandings might clear up. That the confusion might die away. That the community would have less of a need for a clear, trusted legal perspective. At least in a podcast form.
Two recent events have convinced me that this resource is needed now, more than ever. They have shown me that the gray areas in drone law haven’t gone away. The confusion persists – just about different things than before.
The first thing that happened was in the “Drone Slayer” case. A federal judge “dismissed” a lawsuit brought by a man who’s drone was shot down in Kentucky. The lawsuit sought a ruling from the court that drones are aircraft, just like the FAA says (but no judge has agreed with, yet), and therefore shooting down a drone is just like shooting down a Cessna.
The dismissal of the lawsuit was disappointing. A real missed opportunity for the drone industry to get some clarity on this issue.
But the reaction to this dismissal? That shocked me. People were actually making comments to the effect that bringing the lawsuit was legal malpractice.
That’s so silly. So off the mark.
Comments like that are an indication of misunderstanding. And it is those kinds of misunderstandings that we are here to clear up.
The second thing that happened was news of Bard College putting out a list of local drone laws. The reactions I saw were predictable, though disappointing. The same old lines about local drone ordinances being illegal for some reason, or that the FAA’s “preemption” of local law would be automatic and easily predicted.
That’s not true. Not even close.
Everything out there is just shades of gray. Black and white answers don’t really exist.
All of that has convinced me that this podcast is still needed. That it is still necessary to continue providing you, Drone Law Nation, with the clearest and best information possible.
That’s what we are doing here today. And that’s what we will do every quarter.
We will see you again in July.
A Note About Support
Thank you to everyone that has clicked the “Support” link at www.dronelawtoday.com/support before doing your Amazon shopping. It costs you nothing extra, and a few pennies are thrown back our way. Enough of you have done this that we have covered two months of hosting fees. That’s huge, because it’s an indication that this podcast can be self-sustaining. If it is, then we can continue for as long as the audience is there. As long as you are there, Drone Law Nation.
Thank you all for your support.
Links for You:
Part 107
Who Owns the Air?
The State Drone Law Book
Amazon Support Link
Don’t Shoot That Drone!
Section 333 and You
The Pirker Case and FAA Drone Regulation
James Mackler Interview (“Government Drones” & the Boggs Case)
Professor Froomkin: Self Defense Against Robots & Drones
Troy Rule: Drone Zoning Paper (SSRN Download)
Our brief for Angel Eyes UAV in Huerta v. Pirker
Dismissal Order in the Boggs Case
Listen in iTunes
Listen in Stitcher
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Learn more about our law firm, Ausley McMullen, at www.ausley.com or www.dronelawyers.com.
Keep on Flying,
-Steve
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Drone Law Nation, we’re in this for the long haul. My law firm started its work with the commercial drone industry five years ago, when the FMRA first came out. Since then, it’s been a wild ride. We’ve grown with you, and you’ve grown with us. And we appreciate you all.
The mission of this podcast will always be to share the best information possible about the legal side of the drone industry. To do that, we are approaching this like a marathon. One we are running with you.
Starting this month, Drone Law Today is going to a quarterly publication schedule. This will ensure that we continue to put out the best information possible over the long haul.
In this episode, we talk a little about this and then jump right into your questions. You’ve sent in a lot of great questions, and we’re overdue for a “mailbag” episode.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us through Amazon. Your trust and support means the world to us. We are doing everything we can to honor that trust, to honor that support, and to right “shotgun” with you as you pioneer this industry.
Listen in for answers to your questions on the Skypan fine, Florida drone law, Super Bowl Drones, and much more. Thank you for being awesome.
Links for you:
FMRA (Search for “336”)
Part 101
Part 107
14 CFR § 107.45
The Police Drones Series
Who Owns the Air?
The State Drone Law Book
Amazon Support Link
Florida’s Drone Law
The Skypan Fine: Jason Koebler, Interviewed
The Skypan Fine: Recode Article on the Settlement
FAA Interpretation of the Special Rule for Model Aircraft
Listen in iTunes
Listen in Stitcher
Listen on YouTube
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Learn more about our law firm, Ausley McMullen, at www.ausley.com or www.dronelawyers.com.
Keep on Flying,
-Steve
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Who owns the air above your backyard? Do you own it? Why do you think so? Why wouldn’t you “own” it? What does “ownership” even mean?
Welcome to the weird world of “aerial property rights.”
We’ve talked about these issues before, most notably in the Drone Law Course from last year. The problem of aerial property rights came to mind this week, though, because of a conversation I had with Ian Smith of Commercial Drones FM.
Before Ian and I spoke on his podcast, he tweeted out a request for questions. The first one that came through was from that singular gentlemen and scholar, Jonathan Rupprecht, who asked us: “who owns the lower portion of the sky?”
That question is one of the hardest issues facing the drone industry, and he knew it! Ian and I were game for the question though, and talked through the issues at length.
In this episode, we dig deeper into that issue by highlighting the work of Professor Troy Rule. His article, Airspace in an Age of Drones, serves as the foundation for our episode today. Tune in for the latest, and for some potential ways to solve this difficult problem.
New – Support Link!
The best support you can give Drone Law Today is your time and attention. There is literally nothing more valuable – we appreciate every single one of you. The fact that you share the podcast, rate it, review it, and continue to listen is the reason we keep doing this show.
For those of you inclined to help us with the “hard costs” of producing this podcast (hosting, equipment, etc.), we’ve created an Amazon Affiliate Link at www.dronelawtoday.com/support. Clicking that link before you shop costs you nothing, and will help support our work here.
Thank you once again for what you are doing to make the drone industry great.
Links for you:
Troy Rule: Airspace in an Age of Drones
Troy Rule: Drone Zoning
The Drone Law Course
The Police Drones Series (Links to all episodes)
Commercial Drones FM Interview
Listen in iTunes
Listen in Stitcher
Listen on YouTube
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Learn more about our law firm, Ausley McMullen, at www.ausley.com.
Keep on flying,
-Steve
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Drone Law Nation, today’s episode is about fighting to win. Our guest today is David Daniel, the Executive Director of the UAS Association of Florida.
The mission of the UAS Association of Florida is to encourage the growth of the drone industry in Florida by fighting to prevent unnecessary and over-burdensome regulations.
And you know how they do that? Through professional lobbying.
We’ve talked before about the importance of professional lobbying to the drone industry. It is especially critical at the state level, as states are doing all sorts of things that may hinder the growth potential for drones.
The question before us is whether we want to be pitchers who control the game, or hitters who only react?
Professional lobbying means controlling the game. Pushing the agenda and changing the world by telling our own story.
If our story isn’t told by us, then who will tell it? If the grassroots base of the drone industry does not speak up, then the people controlling the narrative are those that know the least about it.
It’s time to speak up. It’s time to be heard. It’s time to join up and fight like mad for the things we believe in.
You want a drone industry that works?
Then saddle up.
Let’s do this thing.
Together.
Links for you:
UAS Association of Florida
Seth Godin: Pitchers and Hitters
Lobby or Die
Telling Better Stories
Listen in iTunes
Listen in Stitcher
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Learn more about our law firm, Ausley McMullen, at www.ausley.com.
Keep on flying,
Steve
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Welcome back, Drone Law Nation! Today we have a bonus episode with some thank-you’s, reflection, and announcements of changes.
First, thank you all for an amazing 2016. We launched the Drone Law Course and the State Drone Law Book while continuing to introduce you to the people and ideas making the drone industry “go.”
We look forward to doing more in 2017, but to do that consistently we are changing the schedule.
Starting this month, the Drone Law Today Podcast will publish every-other-week. Our next episode will be on January 23.
Thank you for going on this journey with us since we started in 2015. We look forward to an awesome 2017, with more great things to share.
We have some great things coming out in 2017. Make sure you don’t miss a thing by getting on the email list. You can join it by downloading the Drone Revolution and State Drone Law books, or by submitting a question on our Question Collector.
Until next time, Drone Law Nation – Keep On Flying.
Links for you:
Drone Law Today YouTube Channel
Drone Law Course
Download Link to the Drone Revolution and State Drone Law books
Listen in iTunes
Listen in Stitcher
Listen on YouTube
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Learn more about our law firm, Ausley McMullen, at www.ausley.com.
Keep on flying,
Steve
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Welcome back, Drone Law Nation! Today we are back with the tenth and final part of our series on the Constitutional issues raised when police use drones.
Today we’re talking about the future. Through the lens of legal scholars who have written about these issues, we will take a look at what future cases might look like.
Thanks for coming along for the ride. Listen in for more about what the future might be.
Links for you:
Police Drones Part 1
Police Drones Part 2
Police Drones Part 3
Police Drones Part 4
Police Drones Part 5
Police Drones Part 6
Police Drones Part 7
Police Drones Part 8
Police Drones Part 9
U.S. Constitution: Amendment 4
Villasenor: Observations from Above
Farber: Eyes in the Sky
Ohm: Fourth Amendment in a World Without Privacy
Kerr: Equilibrium Adjustment Theory
Listen in iTunes
Listen in Stitcher
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Learn more about our law firm, Ausley McMullen, at www.ausley.com.
Keep on flying,
Steve
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Drone Law Nation, you heard it here first: the Ausley McMullen Law Firm has created the first ever book addressing the State Drone Laws in place around the United States.
Click the link to get your copy of State Drone Law: State Regulations on Unmanned Aircraft Systems!
Joining me to announce the book is Richard Doran, the former Attorney General of Florida and my mentor in all things “drone law.”
Richard and I have worked together for years in advising Government entities and private companies on issues related to drone law.
The State Drone Law Book is the culmination of years of effort to understand the interaction between federal and state law on the drone industry. We worked this summer to compile the statutes and regulations impacting drones all across the country, and to translate that information in an easy-to-understand book.
This edition, officially announced to the Drone Law Today Email List on December 30, 2016, is our “first shot” at addressing these issues in a comprehensive way. We intend to update this book annually, and to expand it to discuss the cases on drones that are winding their way through the courts.
Thank you once again for being part of the Drone Revolution.
Let’s work together to make the future awesome.
Links for you:
State Drone Law: State Laws and Regulations on Unmanned Aircraft Systems
Richard Doran’s profile
Ausley.com
DroneLawyers.com
Our brief in Huerta v. Pirker
Listen in iTunes
Listen in Stitcher
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Keep on flying,
Steve
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Welcome back, Drone Law Nation! Today we are back with Part 9 of our series on the Constitutional issues raised when police use drones.
Today we’re talking about State v. Davis, a case from the Supreme Court of New Mexico addressing aerial surveillance under the Fourth Amendment and state law. This case gets into the “nitty gritty” of how to examine helicopter surveillance under federal precedent, and how to “distinguish” your case from precedent that you want to “get away” from. This case came from helicopter surveillance that led to a marijuana seizure – just like Riley. But the New Mexico Supreme Court went a different direction. And it mentioned how it might address drones in a different case.
Listen in for more about what the future might be.
Links for you:
Police Drones Part 1
Police Drones Part 2
Police Drones Part 3
Police Drones Part 4
Police Drones Part 5
Police Drones Part 6
Police Drones Part 7
Police Drones Part 8
State v. Davis
U.S. Constitution: Amendment 4
Emil Kiehne’s Blog on State v. Davis
Listen in iTunes
Listen in Stitcher
Follow @DroneLawToday on Twitter!
What questions do you have about Drone Law? Click here to let us know!
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Download your FREE copy of “The Drone Revolution: How Robotic Aviation Will Change the World,” right here: CLICK FOR BOOK!
Learn more about our law firm, Ausley McMullen, at www.ausley.com.
Keep on flying,
Steve
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Welcome back, Drone Law Nation! Today we are back with Part 8 of our series on the Constitutional issues raised when police use drones.
Today we’re talking about Kyllo v. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court case that tells us when “new technology” may infringe on our Fourth Amendment rights. The “new tech” angle is critical here – the first court that considers police searches with a drone under the Fourth Amendment will have to read Kyllo together with Ciraolo, Dow Chemical, and Florida v. Riley to come up with its answer. This means that you should understand these cases, Drone Law Nation, as it could be your product (or client) that makes the law.
Listen in for more about what the future might be.
Links for you:
Police Drones Part 1
Police Drones Part 2
Police Drones Part 3
Police Drones Part 4
Police Drones Part 5
Police Drones Part 6
Police Drones Part 7
Kyllo v. U.S.
U.S. Constitution: Amendment 4
Listen in iTunes
Listen in Stitcher
Follow @DroneLawToday on Twitter!
What questions do you have about Drone Law? Click here to let us know!
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Download your FREE copy of “The Drone Revolution: How Robotic Aviation Will Change the World,” right here: CLICK FOR BOOK!
Learn more about our law firm, Ausley McMullen, at www.ausley.com.
Keep on flying,
Steve
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Welcome back, Drone Law Nation! Today we are back with Part 7 of our series on the Constitutional issues raised when police use drones.
Our talk today hits the third of our three “aerial surveillance” cases, Florida v. Riley. This case deals with naked-eye surveillance of marijuana plants inside a greenhouse through an open panel in the greenhouse roof. The surveillance took place from a helicopter hovering at 400 feet above the ground.
Was this a “search” that requires a warrant under the Fourth Amendment? The Florida Supreme Court said “yes,” but the U.S. Supreme Court said “no.” The reasons that the U.S. Supreme Court reached that conclusion may be important for future “police drone” cases.
Listen in for more about what the future might be.
Links for you:
Police Drones Part 1
Police Drones Part 2
Police Drones Part 3
Police Drones Part 4
Police Drones Part 5
Police Drones Part 6
Florida v. Riley
U.S. Constitution: Amendment 4
Listen in iTunes
Listen in Stitcher
Follow @DroneLawToday on Twitter!
What questions do you have about Drone Law? Click here to let us know!
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Download your FREE copy of “The Drone Revolution: How Robotic Aviation Will Change the World,” right here: CLICK FOR BOOK!
Learn more about our law firm, Ausley McMullen, at www.ausley.com.
Keep on flying,
Steve
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What Technology Wants is an important book. Its author, Kevin Kelly, is a sage.
Mr. Kelly is the rarest of authors: a futurist that is consistently right, consistently insightful, and willing to share the wildest reaches of his mind with the rest of us.
This book is both about what technology is and what it will be. These sound like simple questions, but they aren’t. Not by a long shot.
So what is technology?
It’s everything.
It’s the nest that a bird makes.
It’s the clothes that you’re wearing.
It’s the books on your shelf.
It’s your shelf.
Technology is what living things make.
And according to Kevin Kelly?
Technology is as inevitable as evolution itself.
His idea is that technology – in all its forms – is an extension of biological evolution. And that biological evolution is itself an extension of the universe’s coalescence from energy into matter into planets into stars and, ultimately, into the world we live in.
He doesn’t stop there.
He also argues that intelligence – sentience – awareness of oneself and the environment and the ability to make choices – is inevitable, too. An example of this is the independent evolution of the type of “charismatic intelligence” we find in ourselves. We are not the only beings with glimmers of this kind of life – it happened independently in whales and birds, too. (Not all birds, of course – sparrows seem quite dumb. But ravens? Ravens know what’s up. So too with dolphins – didn’t Douglas Adams teach us that? I have no comment on the narwhal.)
His arguments are compelling. And they are immediately relevant to the world of drones.
Drones exist within a robotics and computing ecosystem. They are flying robots. They are run with computer “brains.” Any advances in artificial intelligence will find their way into drones.
What does that mean for us? Will the flying robots like us? What does that even mean?
Though the immediate answer is “nobody knows,” we can’t stop there. That’s a cop-out. That’s refusing to think in order to spare your brain the pain.
We can do better than that, Drone Law Nation.
We can run straight at these problems and grapple with them.
We can wrestle with them in the night like Jacob and the angel of God.
And the main problem, to my mind, is not simply the advance of technology and automation as applied to traditionally human endeavors. It’s in the advance of artificial intelligence to the point where it looks, sounds, and feels just like ours.
And then what?
What happens then?
What do we do? What does law look like?
In fact, law itself is a technology – it’s an operating system for society. How will the technology of our legal system adjust to the rise of machines with human-level intelligence? (whatever human-level intelligence might mean).
Kevin Kelly is ultimately optimistic. He views technology as a liberating force, not in the sense of removing perceived “oppression,” but rather in the sense of creating new options for human talents to emerge.
For example, what is Mozart without the piano? What is Van Gogh without cheap oil paint? What is Michelangelo without the tools to carve marble? What is Daft Punk without a synthesizer?
In Kelly’s view, the result of artificial intelligence – whatever that might look like – is a net win for humanity because previously unseen (and unavailable options) will become available to us. What might those be? It’s impossible to say in advance.
In fact, it’s usually impossible to say in advance what the net effect of new technology will be. One example in the book is the development of the “horseless carriage” – the cars we take for granted. From our perspective, it’s obvious that cars mean streets and traffic lights and traffic deaths and suburban houses and interstate highways and whole industries spinning out of our efforts to make the system work.
But at first? None of that was visible. All the people could see back then was the fact that cars could be faster than horses, and that they would not fill the streets with their crap. The “horse manure crisis” was a real environmental concern – people back then were legitimately worried that New York would be buried in dung if the rate of horse usage kept increasing.
The ecosystem that grew up around cars was only obvious after the technology was everywhere.
This will be the case with robots. This will be the case with drones. This will be the case with robots and drones that run on artificial intelligence.
These are the kinds of questions that Kevin Kelly wrestles with in What Technology Wants. He spent years writing this treasure of a book, and this review cannot do it justice.
This book is a necessary read for anyone that wants to understand where the future is going. And I think that’s you, Drone Law Nation.
Read it through and think about what the future might hold. And let us know what that future looks like in your mind.
Who knows? You might have the perspective that unlocks everything.
Share the wisdom. Share the love.
Let’s go win the future.
And while you do that,
Keep On Flying.
Links for you:
What Technology Wants (Kevin Kelly)
The Inevitable (Kevin Kelly)
www.kk.org
James Altucher Podcast interview of Kevin Kelly
Christian Transhumanist Podcast interview of Kevin Kelly
The Turing Test
DLT: Our First “Drones and AI” Episode
DLT: Drones and AI – Interview with Matt Scherer
“The Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894”
Listen in iTunes!
Listen in Stitcher!
Listen on YouTube
Follow @DroneLawToday on Twitter!
What questions do you have about Drone Law? Click here to let us know!
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Download your FREE copy of “The Drone Revolution: How Robotic Aviation Will Change the World,” right here: CLICK FOR BOOK!
Check out the FREE Drone Law Course at www.dronelawtoday.com/course!
Learn more about our law firm, Ausley McMullen, at www.ausley.com.
Keep on flying,
Steve
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Some people say “lobbyist” like a curse word. Like something awful. Like something evil.
That way of thinking? It’s a lie.
Lobbying is standing up for yourself. It’s advocacy.
It’s growing up and fighting the fight.
That thought in the air that lobbying is “bad?”
It’s time to get over that, Drone Law Nation.
Today’s episode is an experiment. I’m reading an article that I wrote in November, 2015. An article about why the drone industry must Lobby or Die.
The particulars of the drone world are different in 2016, but the spirit is the same.
Join or Die.
Lobby or Die.
Make something happen, or the world will happen to you.
Let’s choose to get real. Let’s choose to face the world as it is. Let’s fight the battle in front of us with smiles on our faces and confidence in our hearts.
Let’s go win the world.
Links for you:
Original “Lobby or Die” Article on LinkedIn Pulse
Listen in iTunes!
Listen in Stitcher!
Listen on YouTube
Follow @DroneLawToday on Twitter!
What questions do you have about Drone Law? Click here to let us know!
Nothing in this podcast is legal advice! Please don’t make legal decisions for yourself or your business before consulting counsel of your choice.
Download your FREE copy of “The Drone Revolution: How Robotic Aviation Will Change the World,” right here: CLICK FOR BOOK!
Check out the FREE Drone Law Course at www.dronelawtoday.com/course!
Learn more about our law firm, Ausley McMullen, at www.ausley.com.
Keep on flying,
Steve
Text of the Original Article:
Join or Die!
Those were Ben Franklin’s words to the colonies in 1754. If they didn’t unite in common defense, their cities would burn. Their children would die. Invaders would wreck everything they built.
The drone industry faces similar stakes, right now.
The invading army isn’t the French, though. It’s state regulation.
Don’t believe me? You will soon.
The drone world is hyper-focused on the FAA right now. That makes sense, as the FAA is drafting rules to govern commercial operation of small drones in the National Airspace System.
People seem to think that once these rules are out commercial drone companies will have smooth sailing nationwide.
This is not the case.
In state legislatures across the nation, laws are being proposed that could kill the drone industry.
How could this be? Isn’t the FAA in charge of drones?
Yes, it is. But only in part.
The FAA’s job is to determine how drones can fly safely.
The FAA will have next to nothing to say about what can be done with a drone during an otherwise safe flight.
States will have everything to say about that. And what they say could kill the drone industry.
Let’s take an example. Suppose that “Drone Company” has a business plan to deliver “Application X” to customers. Imagine that Application X will deliver huge value to customers in ways that have never been seen before.
This is not hard to imagine. These kinds of million-dollar applications are par for the course for modern drone companies. The innovation in this field is amazing. Drones are set to make our lives much better – from saving lost children to creating on-demand, 3-D surveys of construction projects. Let your mind go wild with the possibilities.
Let’s say that Drone Company’s biggest potential market for Application X is in “State Y.” Now imagine that in State Y, a lawmaker decides that drones are “public enemy number 1.” So that lawmaker proposes a law making Application X a crime!
Then what happens? If the law passes, Drone Company is completely out of business. This is so even if Drone Company follows the FAA rules perfectly.
What can Drone Company do? It’s just one company. What’s one voice against a chorus of people who don’t understand drones? How can one company overcome a crowd that’s terrified of new technology?
If Drone Company works alone, it’s dead. The huge value it could’ve delivered will be killed in the cradle.
Join or Die.
That was Ben Franklin’s message in 1754. If the colonies did not fight together, their world would fall apart.
For drone companies today, there is only one way to deal with the threat of ill-conceived state regulation.
Lobby or Die.
Drone companies must join together to lobby their state legislatures. If they don’t, the drone industry will die a death by 1000 cuts.
This isn’t an exaggeration. It’s HAPPENING RIGHT NOW.
I’ve written before about Florida’s (awful) drone laws. I won’t repeat myself. You can read about them here and here.
Florida’s experience is not unique. Awful drone laws are being passed around the country. Some, like the recent ones in California, were vetoed before they became law.
The California experience is instructive. The bills would have made most drone operations in California impossible. But the Governor vetoed the worst of them.
Why did he do that? Did he have a magic flash of insight? Does he read all the drone blogs?
OF COURSE NOT.
The California bills were vetoed because drone companies stood up and lobbied for their lives.
If they hadn’t done that, they’d be dead. Dead right now. California would be a dead zone for drone operations.
California’s share of the $82 billion drone industry? GONE. Maybe gone forever.
But that didn’t happen. The California drone industry came together. They lobbied their government successfully. They Saved the Day!
Lobby or Die.
It’s really that simple.
But what do I mean by “lobby?” Do I mean “paying off lawmakers”? Isn’t “lobbying” sort of evil?
Of course not!
Lobbying is a profession like any other. It’s a hugely important one, too. You pay lobbyists for their deep knowledge of the “process” in the state capitol, their key relationships built over many years, and their ability to see government action coming before anyone else.
With the right lobbyist in the right place, your industry can have a much bigger impact than you might think.
This is not a pitch for you to hire me, by the way. I’m not a lobbyist. There are lobbyists in my firm, but so what? I don’t care WHO gets hired to lobby drone issues in Florida.
I just care that SOMEBODY is. Preferably, several somebodies.
Why?
Because this is critically important. It’s important in Florida, it’s important in California, it’s important everywhere.
The Drone Industry must work together. Professional lobbyists must be hired.
Self-help lobbying is good too. It’s better than nothing. Coordinated calls to legislators are useful ways to help kill bad legislation.
But it’s hard to play offense without a quarterback. The drone industry won’t get “good” state laws passed without a coordinated, professional effort.
Don’t blame me for saying this.
It’s just the truth.
All is not “doom and gloom,” though. State drone laws are a threat to the industry, for sure.
But they aren’t just a threat.
They’re also a huge opportunity.
If your state is drone-friendly, billions of dollars in economic development can flow your way.
The world of “drone law” is the wild west right now. But you know what that means? It means it’s a frontier. A frontier we can shape any way we want.
So here’s your call to action.
Find your allies. Join industry groups where other drone companies hang out (AUVSI is the gold standard, but others are out there). Find ways to pool your resources and make the case to your state lawmakers.
You don’t have to go at it blind. I’ve got some suggestions on how to start a lobbying effort in my book that you can get for free right here (lobbying information starts on page 35).
Our states are laboratories of democracy. Each state gets to try different things. The best ideas usually catch on.
The impact you have on your state could ripple out across the country. You can change the world.
Act local, think global.
Join or Die.
It’s as true now as it was in 1754.
So get to it!
Go make a dent in the world.
Keep on flying,
Steve
- Montre plus
