Mandatory Registration for Drones Coming in the US

This may seem off topic, but I think that if you take the long view of what LENR could make possible, this is a relevant topic for this site. The US Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Department announced on Monday that they will be setting up a task force to create rules under which all drones (UAVs) will need to registered with the federal government. The reason cited is that the increased use of drones is causing safety risks in the skies, and drone registration is an attempt to restrain unsafe drone flying.

Here’s an excerpt from a Washington Post article on the topic:

The FAA and the Transportation Department are setting up a task force composed of government officials and industry representatives to devise the registration system. [Transportation Secretary Anthony] Foxx said the group has until Nov. 20 to finalize its recommendations so the government can set up the registry before Christmas — the peak season for drone sales.

Such a timetable amounts to lightning speed for the FAA, which usually labors for years to shape new aviation regulations.

Foxx said the registration rules will also apply to people who have bought drones in recent years, not just new owners. He said the FAA will impose penalties — which he did not spell out — on anyone who does not comply.

Nobody knows exactly how many of the robotic aircraft are already flying around, but most estimates top 1 million.

The reason I bring this up here is that it represents an example of government action to regulate a new technology that has the potential to be disruptive in many ways. A drone flying into commercial airspace has the potential cause accidents, either accidentally or deliberately, and if one thinks in terms of national security and law enforcement, drones provide a new means of attacks by criminals and terrorists.

This all makes me wonder about how governments might react when it comes to revolutionary energy source, like LENR, coming into the mainstream. Distributed energy production has the potential to provide people with a new level of freedom and independence, and that would be true especially if LENR devices are mobile. And as much as we like to think that LENR would be used for productive and positive purposes, it is a safe bet that it will be considered to be useful for destructive ends too.

Would it be an overreaction to think that there’s a chance that governments might want to know who owns LENR devices and what the might do with them, and that new regulations, fees, taxes, restrictions might be applied to LENR?