UAV - Kan forstyrre privatlivets fred. USA med regelverk

Conduct code for unmanned aircraft is unveiled

By KEVIN BEGOS

Associated Press / July 3, 2012

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A trade group for drone aircraft manufacturers and operators has released the industry’s first code of conduct in response to growing privacy concerns.

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International said Monday that the recommendations for ‘‘safe, non-intrusive operation’’ are meant to guide operators and reassure a public leery of the possibility of spy drones flying undetected over their homes.

‘‘We understand as an industry that we've got a public relations problem,’’ said Paul McDuffee, a director of the association who helped draft the recommendations.

Drones, small airplanes or helicopters operated remotely by pilots from the ground, can be equipped with sophisticated cameras and even weapons. They have been used to spy on and hunt down al-Qaida terrorists in Pakistan, but the rapidly declining size and cost of them has prompted fears that thousands could be operating in the U.S. within a decade, with little effective oversight. Some of the drones weigh just a few pounds and can fit in a person’s hands.

Citizens, civil liberties groups and politicians have voiced worries that the small aircraft raise the specter of a ‘‘surveillance society.’’ Currently there are only about 300 authorized federal permits to operate such aircraft, along with an unknown number of unlicensed amateurs, who are supposed to keep their aircraft within sight.