With drone attacks like the one in Caracas and others splashed
across the media, people are becoming increasingly aware of the
many ways commercial drones can be used.
"Bad guys are turning their minds over that as well," Galliott says.
"That's just the risk that comes with any new technology."
Another option: Shoot the thing down. But if there are explosives
on board, that's a potential risk to civilians on the ground.
An MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), carrying a Hellfire missile Jan. 7,
2016.
John Moore/Getty Images
It was 2001, less than a month after 9/11. The War on Terror was
unfolding in Afghanistan, the US campaigning to rid the country of
al-Qaeda. Mullah Omar, supreme commander of the Taliban, was
tracked to a building in the southern city of Kandahar. Despite being
an untested quantity, despite the blurry rules of using it, the Air
Force tasked the Predator with destroying the building and those
inside.
But Galliott believes the Caracas attack proves the civilian use of
less advanced drones is a far more pressing concern.
"That's the point that escapes people with the emphasis on these
military systems," Galliott says. "They are high-level systems a
civilian could not repurpose without a whole team of people.
Whereas these off-the-shelf things, they're available here and now."
"DJI makes drones entirely for peaceful purposes and deplores any
misuse of a technology that has brought great benefits throughout
the world," says Adam Lisberg, head DJI spokesman for North
America.
In the US, drones already have a legal restriction on how high they
can fly -- 400 feet. So the solution could come down to "limiting the
range of the systems," Galliott says.
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