In 2014, the Federal Aviation Administration designated six test sites for the integration of unmanned aerial systems’ (UAS) commercial applications in U.S. airspace. With this comes considerable optimism for economic growth.
Some early estimates indicate the potential
for 10,000 new jobs with an economic
impact of $2.5 billion by the middle of the
next decade.
But with all that positive news comes the
reality that UAS—also referred to as
drones—are becoming a legal hot-button
issue. As UAS technology evolves, new
laws, regulations and changes to existing
laws will be needed to assure citizens their
privacy is protected and the new devices are
used for the public good.
A symposium on UAS in Nevada (one
of the six designated states), held at
UNLV Boyd School of Law’s
Thomas & Mack Moot Court on
October 16, brought plenty of
“What if” scenarios surrounding the
legal implications for drones. But
above all, government, academic and
legal experts seemed to agree that
finding what is right and fair when
it comes to regulating UAS could
involve plenty of trial and error as
well as cooperation between the
public and private sectors. Below
Drones, Privacy Focus of Symposium
Top row, L to R: Tom Wilczek, Nevada
Governor’s Office; Steve Sebelius moderates
the panel; Dr. Lynn Fenstermaker.
Bottom row, L to R: UNLV Law Professor
Rebecca Scharf; Professor Paul Oh; Steve
Sebelius; attorney Richard Jost; organizers
and participants gather.
are a few highlighted points from the
symposium.
Public opinion
The symposium, a partnership between
the Boyd School of Law and law firm
Fennemore Craig Jones Vargas, first looked
at public attitudes toward a variety of UAS
uses.
Criminal Justice professor Joel
Lieberman and a team of researchers
recently conducted three studies that
sampled U.S. and Nevada public opinions
about different UAS uses.
For the U.S. studies, Lieberman noted
a more-than-90-percent approval rate
for climate and geological uses. Traffic
monitoring and military operations saw
approvals topping 70 percent as well. More
than 1,000 people were surveyed for each
study.
But support dipped below 50 percent
for activities like crowd and criminal activity
monitoring; and, in general, respondents
felt more comfortable with drone
surveillance activities being done by the
federal government and police agencies,
not by private citizens. That finding was
ironic, given the concerns about oversized
government coming out of some media
and political circles today.
“It’s an interesting contradiction,”
Lieberman added.
Overall, Nevadans were more accepting of
UAS uses than others around the country,
showing slightly higher approval percentages
in all usage categories. Lieberman speculates
military influence and a longer history with
UAS in the state could be reasons for greater
acceptance in the state.
Panel discussion on privacy
A panel of experts at the event included:
• Thomas Wilzcek, Aerospace & Defense
Industry Representative for the Nevada
Governor’s Office of Economic
Development
• John Valery White, Executive Vice
President and Provost, UNLV and
Chairman, Nevada Institute of
Autonomous Systems
• Dr. Lynn Fenstermaker, Associate
Research Professor at the Desert Research
Institute
• Richard Jost, Director of Fennemore Craig
Jones Vargas, and General Counsel for the
Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems
• Paul Oh, Lincy Professor for Unmanned
Aerial Systems and Director of the Drones
and Autonomous Systems Lab at UNLV
The group discussed some of the potential
