US passes law that allows law enforcement officers to shoot drones out of the sky

According to several organizations, a new bill passed by the US Senate gives law enforcement and authorities in the United States the right to shoot drones from the sky if they consider them a threat.

The new FAA Reauthorization Act recently passed by the Senate gives U.S. law enforcement the right to disable, disrupt, or take control of unmanned flight systems containing any system or device. This is only allowed if enforcers regard the drone as a ‘probable threat’ to security. Exactly what this means is not stated in the law. Several civil society organizations believe that the law gives enforcers a carte blanche to confiscate or shoot down private drones, without sufficient guarantees in the law.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation believes that a proper monitoring mechanism is lacking, the organization told TechCrunch. The EFF wants proper oversight and wants to curtail the right for law enforcement to hack and destroy drones, in order to protect the rights of journalists, activists and recreational pilots. The organization also believes that the new law gives the Ministry of Justice too much power, partly because enforcers would soon be given the right to seize drones without express authorization from a public prosecutor.

The American Civil Liberties Union is also critical and states that this gives the government new possibilities to spy on citizens. Freedomworks agrees and states that the new rules allow the government to intercept data from the drones, including video and photo material.

Drone manufacturers such as DJI, Parrot, GoPro and other companies are happy with the law. The so-called Alliance for Drone Innovation, which includes these companies, notes that other parts of the law ensure that drones are further integrated into the American aviation system. The alliance points out that the law allows the FAA to use an identification system to monitor drones, the umbrella organization writes. The parties are also happy with passages through which new drone pilots are better trained by means of mandatory tests.

Donald Trump, the US president, has yet to pass the law. This is presumably a formality, which means that the new rules will probably come into effect.