Flite Test has recently appeared in a video supporting the idea of inexpensive remote access identification for hobbyists. When they made an announcement about it on youtube however, the comments were very much against this and a lot of people disapproved of the fact that Flite Test supported the idea. What do you guys on the forums think?
Personally I think its a great idea but with a few flaws.
Firstly I dont like the idea about crowdsourcing drone information, I think the average person is not knowledgeable enough to be given the power to instantly report something (you wouldn't believe some of the thing I have heard people say about drones from people). However I do think it would be great to make something like this available to law enforcement and other departments who do have to worry about/interact with drones. Look i hate to admit but drones are rapidly becoming tools that are very capable of performing tasks and carrying payloads and like it or not, criminals will be using them, they already have. With that said, I dont think regulating drones into the ground is the right answer. Personally I would suggest:
1: An application like this that helps law enforcement to know if there is a drone in the area flying legally.
2: Appropriate drone countermeasures, net guns, drones that can capture other drones, Jamming devices, etc.
3: a legislative response that isn't just knee jerk bureaucracy. No criminal is going to bother to register his drone after he picks it up at wal-mart or off of Amazon. All the current regulations do is add more rules and help big businesses run pull ahead with their drone services by regulating competition.
I should note that this is my opinion, obviously I may be missing some stuff here and some people may not agree with me, thats fine, it doesnt make me a idiot, and it doesnt make anyone else a idiot, a civilized discussion considering all the options is the most productive and healthy form of debate.
So yeah, overall I think its a fine project and unless you are doing some shady stuff thats borderline breaking the law, it shouldn't affect you.