Smriti SharmaThe US government took a phenomenal step towards inculcating drone technology with the airspace of the United States but the Alphabet’s Wing isn’t exactly happy with these new rules. According to the new rules laid out by the government, it required every drone in the US airspace to broadcast their location and also the location of their pilot. This law was established to ensure national security and address safety.
One mega organization isn’t exactly happy with these laws. This company is the Alphabet’s Google. Wing, Alphabet’s drone delivery subsidiary wrote through Reuters that the Remote ID of drones can have consequences for the American customers. This post was in contrast with the FAA’s rule that required the drones to broadcast their location. Wing’s Post wrote that under the guise of the law, the observers can locate you and collect information about the customers’ location, figure out details like where you live and where you go, and details about your packages too.
Alphabet however is not against broadcasting the location of drones. Wing is suggesting that drones send their location via the internet instead of locally broadcasting it. It comes off as amusing to us because isn’t Alphabet’s Google under fire for abusing its power on the internet?
When FAA proposed the Remote ID rules initially in December 2019, they intended to go for internet-based tracking but a lot of commenters gave valid reasons as to why it isn’t a good idea which resulted in FAA amending the law.
Few of the reasons that lead the FAA to change the rules where the cost of adding a modem with cellular connectivity to the drone, lack of reliable cellular coverage across the states of the US, high probability of the data being breached by a third-party data broker, and extra cost of paying for a monthly cellular plan to support the drone amongst other reasons.
The Remote ID is like a license plate for the Drone and Wing believes that this permits a drone to be recognized as it flies over without essentially sharing that drone’s finished flight way or flight history, and that data, which can be more delicate, isn’t shown to the general population and simply accessible to law enforcement on the off chance that they have legitimate accreditations and motivation to require that data.
The internet-based tracking that Wing is seeking is full of loopholes. Unlike a traditional license system that can be tracked when you are nearby, it is not the same for a broadcasting transmitter. For an internet-based tracking system, it entirely depends upon the trust you have in the internet service provider and their security.