Drones, or Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), have arrived. Ranging in size from under a pound to tons, drones carry a host of technologies that enable important work in fields ranging from environmental monitoring to newsgathering, from smart agriculture to law enforcement.
From a regulatory perspective, drones raise immense challenges. They are both information technology and aircraft, and sometimes toys. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has consequently struggled to determine what falls in or outside of its mandate of governing flight safety, and is often (and understandably) blind to important policy questions such as privacy or freedom of speech.
This conference brings together lawyers, policymakers, and technologists to address how domestic drones as a disruptive technology rupture and bridge existing regulatory frameworks. The goal is both practical and theoretical: to explore how technology drives regulatory development, while at the same time bringing important actors together in the same room to address how the parts fit together—and identify where there are gaps.
For more details, including biographic sketches of the participants, and to register, please visit the conference website.
Supported by the Aerospace Research Center, Battelle Center for Science and Technology Policy, Center for Interdisciplinary Law and Policy Studies, College of Engineering, John Glenn College of Public Affairs, and the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University
