On Thursday, I published a story concerning the police-tech giant Flock Safety selling its drones to the private sector to trace shoplifters. Keith Kauffman, a former police chief who now leads Flock’s drone efforts, described the perfect scenario: A security team at a Home Depot, say, launches a drone from the roof that follows shoplifting suspects to their automotive. The drone tracks their automotive through the streets, transmitting its live video feed on to the police.
It’s a vision that, unsurprisingly, alarms civil liberties advocates. They are saying it’s going to expand the surveillance state created by police drones, license-plate readers, and other crime tech, which has allowed law enforcement to gather massive amounts of personal data without warrants. Flock is in the course of a federal lawsuit in Norfolk, Virginia, that alleges just that. Read the complete story to learn more.
However the peculiar thing concerning the world of drones is that its fate within the US—whether the skies above your own home in the approaching years will likely be quiet, or abuzz with drones dropping off pizzas, inspecting potholes, or chasing shoplifting suspects—just about comes right down to one rule. It’s a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulation that stipulates where and the way drones may be flown, and it’s about to vary.
Currently, you wish a waiver from the FAA to fly a drone farther than you’ll be able to see it. This is supposed to guard the general public and property from in-air collisions and accidents. In 2018, the FAA began granting these waivers for various scenarios, like search and rescues, insurance inspections, or police investigations. With Flock’s help, police departments can get waivers approved in only two weeks. The corporate’s private-sector customers generally must wait 60 to 90 days.
For years, industries with a stake in drones—whether e-commerce corporations promising doorstep delivery or medical transporters racing to maneuver organs—have pushed the federal government to scrap the waiver system in favor of easier approval to fly beyond visual line of sight. In June, President Donald Trump echoed that decision in an executive order for “American drone dominance,” and in August, the FAA released a brand new proposed rule.
The proposed rule lays out some broad categories for which drone operators are permitted to fly drones beyond their line of sight, including package delivery, agriculture, aerial surveying, and civic interest, which incorporates policing. Getting approval to fly beyond sight would grow to be easier for operators from these categories, and would generally expand their range.
Drone corporations, and amateur drone pilots, see it as a win. Nevertheless it’s a win that comes on the expense of privacy for the remainder of us, says Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project who served on the rule-making commission for the FAA.
“The FAA is about to open up the skies enormously, to lots more [beyond visual line of sight] flights with none privacy protections,” he says. The ACLU has said that fleets of drones enable persistent surveillance, including of protests and gatherings, and impinge on the general public’s expectations of privacy.
When you’ve got something to say concerning the FAA’s proposed rule, you’ll be able to leave a public comment (they’re being accepted until October 6.) Trump’s executive order directs the FAA to release the ultimate rule by spring 2026.
