Considering how much business Uber does in China, it's kind of hard to imagine that ride-hailing apps aren't exactly legal in the country. Well, they weren't, but they're about to be. Chinese regulators have passed a new law that clears up the legal...
The Illinois Biometric Privacy Act became law in 2008, making it illegal in the state to capture a person's biometric identifiers -- things like fingerprints, iris scans or faceprints -- without explicit consent. This has led to three lawsuits agains...
The Illinois Biometric Privacy Act became law in 2008, making it illegal in the state to capture a person's biometric identifiers -- things like fingerprints, iris scans or faceprints -- without explicit consent. This has led to three lawsuits agains...
New York City may be the Big Apple, but it plays second fiddle to Silicon Valley when it comes to technology. That's why a number of companies located there including (Engadget's parent company) AOL, Bloomberg and, yes, California-based Google and Fa...
Since Monday, porn site XHamster.com has refused access to any user with a North Carolina IP address. The site says the block will stay in place until the state repeals House Bill 2, which prevents cities and counties passing rules that protect LGBT...
Kim Dotcom, essentially the Motion Picture Association of America and Digital Millennium Copyright Act's de facto prime target, and his colleagues actually can be extradited to the United States to face copyright charges according to a judicial rulin...
To become a licensed pilot, one needs a recent clean bill of health from an FAA-certified Airman Medical Examiner, to spend about $5,000 on pilot’s education, pass a test on the legalities and physics of airplane flight, log 30 to 40 hours in a plane with an instructor (although most do about 70), fly solo under an instructor’s supervision, and take a flight test. This will get you a license. With the exception of some of the physics learned in the educational part of the training, virtually none of this prepares a person to operate a multi-rotor drone safely.
Regardless, the FAA now wants drone operators to be required to have a proper pilot’s license. Not even the slightly easier to get Light Sport Aircraft license will do, despite the average drone being a whole hell of a lot lighter than the 1,430 pound upper limit on LSAs. What their proposal does do is put a huge financial and temporal burden on small film-makers who are taking advantage of the fact that buying a $3,000 drone can get them the kinds of shots that they would otherwise need a pilot’s license for. It does nothing for public safety, on account of the pure irrelevance of the training, but puts a huge anchor on one of the fastest-growing segments of our economy. In addition, drones would only be legal to fly during the day, under 400 feet, and within line-of-sight of the operator. Because Hollywood uses large and expensive drones and has powerful lobbyists, this would only apply to drones under 55 lbs.
Given the privacy and safety concerns of drone operation, I can support licensing for operators, but this is insane. Requiring a short course on some basic safety, legal, physics, and operation principals of multi-rotor operation makes good sense, as long as the total cost of licensing doesn’t exceed $250. This won’t be formally proposed until later this year, and it will be open to public comment after that point, so get ready to complain online.
[via The Washington Post]
There are many jurisdictions where you’re not allowed to text while driving. It makes sense: the practice kills. But of course, illegal doesn’t mean people don’t do it. Now a Virginia-based company, ComSonics, is developing a radar-gun like device that can detect the telltale radio frequencies emitted from a cellphone as it sends a text. Law enforcement officers will be able to point it at passing cars and know if the occupant has been sending a text. It won’t be able to say which occupant is guilty, however, so maybe it’ll only be used with single-ocupant vehicles. It’s also unlikely to be able to detect when you’re using data-based text applications, like iMessage or WhatsApp. But considering how dangerous distracted driving is, we’re kind of happy to see tech like this in development.
No, it’s not illegal everywhere to text while driving. But it is in the following states: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada. New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
VIA [ UberGizmo ]
The post Texting-while-driving Detection Device Being Developed appeared first on OhGizmo!.
