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Comment by testis321 | Hacker News Reader

We might be laughing now, but this kind of things bring us new laws, limitations and regulations.

Drones are a great tool, even in the hands of a total amateur. Some regulation is needed (eg. not flying over crowds of people), but otherwise a top-down view shows many, many interesting things, from far crash remains (missing people, atleast finding a body) to illegal dumping operations (eg. a company pouring toxic waste into a river), etc.

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They are a great tool. We know a roofer that's using them to easily inspect and do initial quotes for roof repairs & replacements now...safer, easier, faster. Great idea.

It would be really nice to get a blanket permission for all drone activities under 50 feet AGL.

As someone who loves to use them to shoot video instead of using a ladder (for shots 15-20 feet in the air), the insane panic around their use at all has been massively inconvenient: it is illegal to fly one 20 feet off the ground in a national park as a platform for video/stills. This seems crazy to me.

Nothing that low/close poses any threat to anyone.

I've seen real estate agents using them for high altitude views of homes all the time. It does make a difference in addition to other pictures of homes. It's a view you otherwise wouldn't be able to see.

FCC already has a good solution proposed that will probably be implemented in the next several years.

Put transponders on all drones that must be registered. Then it's easy to track and ID anyone legally flying.

And anything large/long range without a transponder is illegally flying.

I don't think it's a "good solution" for *all" drones to be easily tracked.

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