FAA Admits Names and Home Addresses in Drone Registry Will Be Publicly Available | Hacker News Reader

FAA Admits Names and Home Addresses in Drone Registry Will Be Publicly Available

forbes.com

28 pointsnewman31420 comments

FAA has always been rather backward on privacy. All licensed pilots' home addresses are already publicly available and are being scraped by SEO bots and displayed on the front page of google if you search for said pilot's name.

e.g.

Angelina Jolie: http://aviation-business-gazette.com/A39/B58/Pilot-Angelina-...

Harrison Ford: http://aviation-business-gazette.com/A3/B63/Pilot-Harrison-F...

I've already had a couple of scammers using my address information from here and pretending as bill collectors try to scam me. Not sure how we can get the FAA to see reason in this regard.

Nobody is compelled to be a pilot.

Public records that aren't public aren't public records. Holding a pilot's license means having responsibility to the public, with responsibility comes accountability. Celebrities are not entitled to special privilege in the US. We don't have royalty or an aristocracy.

I agree with you about the idea of public records. At the same time, it is not clear to me why someone would need the physical address of someone with a pilot's license. Why is "where this person lives" part of "public record" once you are licensed to fly a plane?

Additionally, police officers have special privilege, but their home information is not disclosed. As are all civil servants from the post office to the IRS.

The address is where official communications are sent, e.g. the license itself or a subpoena or FAA investigators.

Which is why the FAA needs the data, not a reason to disclose it.

    Public records that aren't public aren't public records.

That's a tautology.

> Holding a pilot's license means having responsibility to the public

uh, no it doesn't.

> Celebrities are not entitled to special privilege in the US

I think the point is more here is 2 recognizable names who also have reason to hide this data.

This is the first time I've ever had a "real" website block me for using an ad blocker. The "continue to site" button loops back to this screen until you turn ABP off.

http://imgur.com/qacLPmC.png

Not happening to me with AdBlock and Ghostery under Chrome.

Use Chrome and open link in an Incognito window.

A common workaround for private and corporate aircraft owners is to register the aircraft under a Delaware company. That results in the registering agent's address ( usually a law firm's office ) appearing in the database.

There is even Delawareing-as-a-service! Just one example from Googling:

http://www.global-inter.net/services/asset-protection-aircra...

Of course this does impose annual requirements for company returns etc but many owners consider that a reasonable cost for the privacy it provides.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. However it is an arrangement I frequently encounter when researching corporate jet ownership.

If you are a licensed amateur radio operator your name, callsign and address is listed in the open FCC database, so looks like this kind of thing is nothing really new.

True. They are talking about including this new information in the same database that is used to register N-numbers for full sized aircraft. It's not really a new thing, and doesn't bother me too much.

However, their FAQ is very misleading. If the info will be public, fine, just be up front about it. At the moment, there is plain language that says the info will be kept private, but legal language that says it will be made publicly searchable.

This just prevented me from having any interest in buying a drone. Obviously your name can end up on an endless variety of lists, from advertising to spam calls, but the notion of this and going into it willingly - it's an instant turn-off. I had been increasingly looking forward to purchasing my first drone, despite the registry. What an incredibly stupid thing for the FAA to do. Where's a drone lobby when you need one.

Check with the AMA (Academy of Model Aeronautics) if you are a hobbyist. http://www.modelaircraft.org/

And check with AUVSI (Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International) if you're a professional. http://www.auvsi.org/home

Those are the two main organizations lobbying for sane laws regarding drones.

yeah, you showed them.

> What an incredibly stupid thing for the FAA to do

Why is it stupid? They don't care at all if you decide not to buy a drone. hell, it's a win for them.

Wow. Blocking me for using adblock ensures I won't ever view Forbes again. Either way they get zero ad views.

If you are into amateur radio, it's the same problem for years. The only workaround is having a PO box.

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