Episode 366 - Interview with Matthew Feeney - Eye To The Sky

Drones are among the most exciting and promising new technologies to emerge in the last few decades. Photographers, firefighters, filmmakers, engineers, and retailers have all used drones to improve public safety, innovate, and enhance creativity. Yet drones pose unique regulatory and privacy issues, and lawmakers at the federal and state levels are adopting policies that both ensure the safety of our national airspace and restrict the use of warrantless aerial surveillance. At a time when low-flying drones are affordable and ubiquitous, how useful are the airspace regulations and privacy laws designed for traditional airplanes and helicopters? Is there a way to build a regulatory and legal environment that ensures entrepreneurs and hobbyists can safely use drones while also protecting us from intrusive aerial surveillance?

We spoke with Matthew Feeney, director of Cato’s Project on Emerging Technologies, about this. Before we get to the show notes, let’s learn a bit more about him.

A Bit More About Matthew Feeney
Matthew Feeney is the director of Cato’s Project on Emerging Technologies, where he works on issues concerning the intersection of new technologies and civil liberties. Before coming to Cato, Matthew worked at Reason magazine as assistant editor of Reason.com. He has also worked at The American Conservative, the Liberal Democrats, and the Institute of Economic Affairs. Matthew is a dual British/?American citizen and received both his B.A and M.A in philosophy from the University of Reading in England.

Show Notes:

  • Our guest today is the editor of Eyes to the Sky. Here is a link to the book: https://www.amazon.com/Eyes-Sky-Privacy-Commerce-Drone/dp/1952223083

  • The history of drone laws in the United States is yet another good example of how a new technology can be “born captive”

  • Part of the problem with regulating new and emerging technology isn’t that there are many obvious applications but non-obvious applications that pose difficult questions. Like the use of drones by police forces.

  • Matthew Feeney talked about the use of aerial surveillance in Baltimore on the show today. Here is some quick background from the Associated Press: https://apnews.com/article/baltimore-courts-503b2eb629abf94c25edf4111baf64bd

  • The benefits to law enforcement of drone technology have to be weighted against the costs of a liberal democracy.

  • Our Patreon channel - Patreon.com/TSOE - with both bonus and commercial free episodes is sponsored by @90Minds. If you need a mind, get one at 90Minds.com!

  • The FAA is the primarily federal regulator of drone technology in the United States followed by the FCC (due to the control mechanisms between the remote and the drone).

  • Amazon first tested its delivery drone in England. An American company needed to go abroad to test a “new toy”. Matthew Feeney shared his thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of our regulatory environment in the second segment of our show today.

  • Is Matthew worried about risks to public infrastructure through drone strikes? To some degree yes. The technology is moving faster than the law can keep up with and that means, as with anything, there are risks.

  • We have hundreds of years of laws against nuisance, trespass, and related torts. Our existing common law is the best defense against drones from a property owner/privacy perspective.

  • Existing practical uses of drones include: photography, firefighting search and rescue, agriculture, building inspection, sports and entertainment — and DRONE RACING (which is incredibly cool on ESPN)

  • We’d like to give a BIG shout out to one of our Patreon members, Geraldine Carter! Check her out at SheThinksBigCoaching.com and her podcast, “Smart Strategy for CPAs”

  • Cars are a great technology but they are also really dangerous. This is why Matthew is a long term optimist on self driving technology.

  • Technology can displace jobs but it can also change (for the better) jobs. Think about long haul truckers. We will still need them in the near future but their jobs will certainly change as self driving technology on the highway system becomes more common.

  • It turns out Matthew has a deep philosophy background and had a great thought today about drones with missiles: “The decision to take a human life should be made by a human.”

  • Matthew is involved in the upcoming “Smart City Symposium” and is asking for people to submit papers. More at this link: https://www.cato.org/blog/call-papers-smart-city-symposium

  • From Matthew Feeney: “Today’s Internet speech debates are a dead end -- what’s next?” https://www.yahoo.com/now/today-internet-speech-debates-dead-100000265.html

  • “You don’t have to describe Facebook as a monopoly to express concern about them.” —Matthew Feeney

  • A big THANK YOU to Matthew Feeney for joining us today. Check out his book “Eyes to the Sky” and his upcoming “Smart City Symposium”.

Here are some additional links to Matthew’s work:

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

This past week was bonus episode 366 - “Where's Gaven Newsom?” — Here are a few links discussed by Ron and Ed:

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