FAA finally shows some teeth on drone jamming

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Miami PD has got some explaining to do. Perhaps these drone jamming companies are getting a little to bold in selling there services. Finally some accountability. I for one see drone jamming as a huge liability. If there is damage to something or someone from a jammed drone the PIC will get stuck with the blame. How does the PIC prove they were jammed and the loss of control was not there fault.

There was a drone company hired to do footage there that had connection issues. If there had been an accident I would hope the PIC would be exhonorated.

Counter-drone company violated federal law at Music Festival - DroneDJ
 
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I worked at a federal prison. They have a big problem with the inmates having cell phones. I was told that some inmates run their old illegal operations from the prison. The prison is in the middle of nowhere. "Welcome to West Virginia." LOL They tried jamming the phones, also to find out, they were breaking the law and had to stop.
If a warden is sent to prison, it has to be a different one. For me to work there, I could never have a misdemeanor. I also can never be put in that prison, because I know how it was built.;)
 
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Miami PD has got some explaining to do. Perhaps these drone jamming companies are getting a little to bold in selling there services. Finally some accountability. I for one see drone jamming as a huge liability. If there is damage to something or someone from a jammed drone the PIC will get stuck with the blame. How does the PIC prove they were jammed and the loss of control was not there fault.

There was a drone company hired to do footage there that had connection issues. If there had been an accident I would hope the PIC would be exhonorated.

Counter-drone company violated federal law at Music Festival - DroneDJ


Can you explain the notion of 'finally'?

Where have they failed to act before?
 
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"The police said that they were unaware that such counter-drone jamming activities would be against federal law."

Isn't it kinda their job to know the law? How many times have I heard "ignorance of the law is no excuse"?

Hang' em High

Up the Irons
That's a common fallacy believed my most.
No - their job is to enforce penal code as it pertains to local criminal law.
They are woefully ignorant on most anything else since that alone is a significant chunk of information to internalize.
Federal law is beyond their purview for the most part. The laws regulating jamming and such are under the FCC which is a very specialized regulatory agency.
 
"The police said that they were unaware that such counter-drone jamming activities would be against federal law."

Isn't it kinda their job to know the law? How many times have I heard "ignorance of the law is no excuse"?

Hang' em High

Up the Irons


You really missed the mark with this one.
 
That one you got right!
 
This does open some interesting liability questions.

Let’s say, I am flying close to the venue, but not actually in their airspace and the jammer knocks me offline. My drone registers the disconnect and attempts to RTH, at which point it does cross into the venue and crashes into something, and someone gets hurt.

Who is liable? The jammer that caused the disconnect in the first place or the owner/pilot who lost control. We would all assume the jammer, but how do you prove it. Not to mention any secondary liability that comes into play when a device is purposely disconnected from its control source, creating a situation in which the drone is now “flying blind” and endangering anyone or anything near it.

If local Law Enforcement agreed to allow a demonstration of this product, irrespective of Federal law issues, the liability issues they took on is inexcusable. They allowed a demonstration of a technology that made a flying object that is under an operators’ control, become a flying object that is out of control. That’s not for lack of knowledge of Federal law. That’s just a lack of common sense.
 
I find it hard to believe that MPD or another agency in that jurisdiction didn't have members of their UAV team there and at least one Officer, Deputy or Trooper didn't speak up about this at the time. Seriously? If they tried this as a demo at the hospital where I work there would be at least 3 of us on the UAV team who would be raising our hands and asking if they were not violating FAA rules.
"Uh, excuse me for a second. I know I'm just some bike officer who took the Pt 107 test but I'm pretty sure you need some sort of authorization to jam drones like this. Am I right?"
 
This does open some interesting liability questions.

Let’s say, I am flying close to the venue, but not actually in their airspace and the jammer knocks me offline. My drone registers the disconnect and attempts to RTH, at which point it does cross into the venue and crashes into something, and someone gets hurt.

Who is liable? The jammer that caused the disconnect in the first place or the owner/pilot who lost control. We would all assume the jammer, but how do you prove it. Not to mention any secondary liability that comes into play when a device is purposely disconnected from its control source, creating a situation in which the drone is now “flying blind” and endangering anyor.
. Whoever gets hung with that liability rope, i’ll pretty much guarantee that the cops won’t be anywhere near “held liable”... that’s just not the way it works. Any damage, injury, death that occurs in the process of a police action gets hung on the original target of said police action, whether it was the police’s negligence at fault or whatever..
 
any jamming tech usually should take your drone down in a very controlled manner, FAA won't allow drone crashes in an uncontrolled manner
 
I believe only the PIC could determine the “controlled manner” though. There had been talk of force return to home. However a direct return to home could result in colision. In any event, once it is jammed there is no longer a PIC
 
Fortunately jamming is illegal in the USA.
 

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