Drone laws needed before perils outweigh positives
▶ Gatwick chaos highlights the need for an internationally accepted standard
Drones can undoubtedly be a force for good. They have been used by Gavi, the global Vaccine Alliance partnered with the UAE, to deliver lifesaving vaccinations; in search and rescue missions at sea in Dubai; and flown over Mosul during the height of ISIS’s reign of terror to identify damage to cultural monuments. Those positive aspects will give little comfort to the 140,000 people whose Christmas plans were ruined when drones brought one of Europe’s busiest airports to a standstill. In three days of chaos last week, about 1,000 flights at Gatwick airport were affected. The UK government invested more than Dh23 million in an anti-drone system to prevent a similar incident but the pandemonium raised a crucial question: how to regulate when the technology behind increasingly sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles is developing faster than ideas to stop them in their tracks?
Individual countries have wrestled with legislation for recreational drones, from India and Saudi Arabia, which have banned them outright, to Canada and the UK, which have strict laws on where they can be flown but have both experienced security breaches. With systems to intercept drones still far from perfect – geofencing software to prevent them from breaching no-go zones can be hacked or disabled, for example – a global registry of drone owners is a possibility, an idea backed by the UN’s aviation agency. The UAE is leading the charge in ensuring drone operators can still enjoy their devices within limitations. Laws introduced in 2016 make it mandatory for everyone who buys drones to register them and complete a training course while all drones must be connected to a national tracking system. Authorities also ran a campaign last year urging drone owners to act responsibly. In a world riven by conflict and in which social media is increasingly used to document our lives, security and privacy will be key issues in considering drone laws. It is imperative to reach an accord on universally accepted standards of use before the perils of drones outweigh the positives.