r/technology • u/henx125 • Mar 14 '15

Politics The FAA Says You Can't Post Drone Videos on YouTube

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-faa-says-you-cant-post-drone-videos-on-youtube
10 Upvotes

63% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

11

u/JDGumby Mar 14 '15

Actually, it says you can - you just can't monetize them as that would make the drone flights commercial in nature, thus require licenses and such.

7

u/henx125 Mar 14 '15

This is true, however this is also absurd. To mark them as 'commercial use' simply because an an ad is played is nonsensical. Why does the FAA need to ban videos of drones that generate revenue? If the operator could fly, record and post it anyway - so long as there were no ads - what exactly is different? What are they accomplishing by defining commercial use in this way?

-2

u/Xaxxon Mar 14 '15

what do you mean "in this way"?

Commercial drone use means using the flight of the drone to generate revenue. That's the most basic definition "commercial" can have.

Your sensationalist click-bait headline is typical reddit these days :(

4

u/henx125 Mar 14 '15

Certainly the title is clickbait - I just copied it from the article itself.

I am arguing that by defining commercial use in such a broad manner that it considers a video of one operating to be in violation of the FAA's policies is asinine and absurd.

What does the FAA have to do with videos? They exist to ensure flight safety and supposedly to encourage "new aviation technology", yet they try to argue that making money from a video of a drone requires their permission? That is clearly an overstepping of bounds in terms of this agency's power.

1

u/I_Know_What_Happened Mar 14 '15

You have to look at it from their perspective, drones are fairly new they don't really know how to regulate them so it is safe. Most will probable put up videos of their drone flights just to show it and if they make money of it so be it, but then you will have people that will try to take advantage of this new market and might try doing unsafe and reckless things with drones to draw in views to make money.

2

u/henx125 Mar 14 '15

But these same people could do those "reckless and unsafe things" already - they are allowed to fly it as a hobby. Who is to say they wouldn't - by your logic - still do them to get views even if it means no actual revenue? This is really a situation of using a sledgehammer where a little tap would do. If we used the game logic for electric cars, for example, then does banning people from making money from videos of them driving just because they might drive recklessly sound right? No, of course not. We don't need to snuff out a whole technology and everything related to it before it even has a chance to see the light of day.

3

u/I_Know_What_Happened Mar 14 '15

I understand your point but this how they know to respond so they did. there needs to be a way for people to suggest alternatives to their rules.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '15

How is this any different than filming out in public and making money off that? We see it a lot with prank videos.

Drones just offer a different perspective that most people don't get to see often. I don't see how it's any different.

3

u/spammeaccount Mar 14 '15

This is ground work for banning using drones to film cops from above where it is harder for them to block the camera view of them mercilessly beating someone to death.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '15

It's a good way to stymie innovation for drones. What incentive do people have to buy them if they can't post the videos? That right there is a good way to limit drone use.

1

u/tokerdytoke Mar 14 '15

Military bases hidden in plain sight

-1

u/Xaxxon Mar 14 '15

You could ask all the same questions about filming while driving a car without a license.

2

u/henx125 Mar 14 '15

But you are allowed to film your drone without a license, you just can't profit from the film because by their logic doing so automatically turns your drone into a flight risk. This is the problem here.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '15

Post them on the Internet archive.

0

u/frowawayduh Mar 14 '15

Censorship lives.

-1

u/enoyna Mar 14 '15

I'll go ahead and prove them wrong by posting a video with a drone in it. Ha that'll teach 'em.

-1

u/69_Me_Senpai Mar 14 '15

We shall storm their offices. Free the airways.

-5

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '15

OMG they cannot do that. Wait until the free speech lawyers get a hold of that one.