Starting today, the Federal Aviation Administration is requiring drone owners to register their aircraft. The FAA has an online registration page in place. Registration will need to be renewed every three years and will cost five dollars, although the fee will be waived for the first 30 days.
Brian Landers, who chairs the criminal justice department at Madison College, says the concerns the federal agency is attempting to address are real. “They are now interfering with all aspects of law enforcement, firefighting, obviusly airline travel. The FAA us trying to get a better handle on these devices flying into airspace,” Landers said.
But Landers is skeptical that the on-line registration will do much of anything to deter those who who would misuse drones. “A person who’s intending to use these devices for criminal actions . . . they’re not going to register them. And unfortunately there’s no way to trace these devices back to the owners.”