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What? Hi-tech? Better ban it

To be honest, I'm getting sick and tired of lame-brained politicians whose only response to anything hi-tech that they don't understand is to roll out the "B" word.

Just a few short weeks ago I wrote about the fact that NZ has banned the sale of rare-earth magnet sets, classifying them as "dangerous goods" and now I see that there are moves afoot (fortunately not in NZ.. yet) to ban more hi-tech from the hands of "mere mortals".

This time it's the USA's politicians who have their banning undies on and are seeking to ban drones. Not just the military and commercial drones - but even the little camera-equipped RC craft that you and I can buy for a couple of hundred bucks.

Yes, several US states have drafted various bits of legislation that seek to make it illegal to own or fly such a craft.

Indeed, one such proposal would ban any model aircraft "capable of carrying a camera" -- which pretty much means *all* models, given that the smallest cameras weigh just a gram or two.

These politicians really are dim bulbs -- idiots who can't draw the distinction between "use" and "misuse" of an item. As I've written before, virtually all Western nations have strict laws to protect people's privacy so there is no need to start banning stuff just because it might be misused to break those laws.

The big problem is also that the media keep calling these RC models "drones", something that immediately links them to the evil baby-killing military craft such as the Predator which is often armed to the teeth and used to "take out" "insurgents" in far-off lands.

What better way for a politician to earn some brownie points with the general public than to promote a law to ban these "evil baby-killing drones" from being flown in *your* town, city or state?

However, the RC community don't fit rockets or bombs to their models. Nor do they spend all day fitting cameras and spying through their neighbour's bedroom window -- as has been suggested by some ill-informed people.

Rather, the hobby community is doing some wonderful things with both off-the-shelf and DIY hardware and electronics. The young people who are today playing with multirotors and remotely piloted "toy planes" are the same people who will soon become a valuable human resource. Once unmanned aerial vehicles begin performing routine tasks that presently require manned vehicles there will be a huge demand for pilots, maintenance and operations personnel. From this perspective, the hobby is a major asset to the future of this industry -- yet we have buffoons in power attempting to shut the whole thing down with ill-conceived laws.

Fortunately, there has been no such move here in NZ and our hobbyists remain free to build, fly and experiment with their camera-equipped RC models. So long as you don't do anything stupid (such as flying near airports, over people's houses, gathered crowds etc) then you're unlikely to encounter any hassles from authorities. Perhaps we ought to take advantage of this by cultivating a greater interest in this future-tech by encouraging the PlayStation generation to "have a go". Playing an FPS game is one thing -- actually flying a craft you've built with your own hands is something altogether better!

But what of the future?

Are we entering an era where politicians are becoming increasingly uncomfortable that the public have access to sophisticated and powerful new technologies?

Could this situation result in a growing number of bans on such technology -- bans that might effectively throw a spanner into the spokes of many valuable hi-tech industries?

I'm starting to get a little worried.

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