News Corp.'s aerial drone squadron reportedly includes an AR.Drone by Parrot (top) and a MD4-1000 by MicroDrone (bottom) (Source: Wantist (top); MicroDrone (bottom))
Some fear that News Corp., who owns many international tabloids such as The New York Post, will begin using the drones to spy on celebrities and politicans. (Source: The New York Post)
Owner of the WSJ, New York Post, and Fox News has a growing squadron of fliers -- are they legal?
Amid an ongoing British hacking scandal that's sunk its stock and forced it to shutter a top publication, News Corp. (NWS) is the subject of new questions -- this time here in the U.S.
News Corp.'s empire, built by mogul Rupert Murdoch, has deep U.S. holdings. It owns The New York Post, a tabloid that ranks seventh in U.S. newspaper circulation rankings; The Wall Street Journal, which ranks number one in circulation; and the Fox News network, which some claim is the most-watched cable news network in the U.S.
I. News Corp.'s Growing Drone Squadron
According to multiple reports News Corp. has been using drone aircraft to snoop on regions of interest from the air and snap photos. One publication points to it using the MicroDrone MD4-1000, a commercial drone from a German tech startup that primarily markets to government agencies like police and fire departments. Another claims that it uses the Parrot AR.Drone quadricopter by France's Parrot SA (EPA: PARRO), a hobbyist model which bills itself as "the flying videogame."
News Corp. openly admits to using drones, with a special feature in its iPad tabloid The Daily dubbed "The Daily Drone". It's been a bit cagey, though, about exactly what models its drone army consists of.
Currently drones are legal for use by hobbyists at up to 400 feet. Businesses, under the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's rules are subject to stricter usage criteria. Civil and commercials uses are only allowed for "research and development" purposes, "not for compensation or hire."
Companies using drones must prove the drone's air-worthiness (this may be taken care of by the companies who sell the drones) and then petition for a certificate for experimental use. Currently 18 such certificates have been issued, though the FAA does not reveal to who. FAA spokesperson Les Dorr reveals, "Currently, 18 of those experimental certificates are active. An experimental certificate allows the holder to do tests, training and demos but not for-hire operations. Ops also must be conducted away from populated areas."
Time Warner, Inc.'s (TWX) cable news property CNN is reportedly among those who uses drones, as well.
It is unclear whether News Corp. or CNN properly petitioned for permits. States Les Dorr, "We are examining The Daily’s use of a small unmanned aircraft to see if it was in accordance with FAA policies."
II. Safer Reporting or Privacy Menace?
The FAA has not clarified whether news drones hovering over disaster areas constitutes experimental use "away from populated" areas, but it seems about as close to the definition as one might expect from a news organization. Using robots in disaster areas to take photos and video could help keep human reporters out of harm's way.
Indeed some states are looking to expand allowances for drones. Oklahoma, in particular, has pending legislation which would create an 80 mile aerial corridor reserved for use by autonomous fliers, including law enforcement drones. A recent study by the NextGen institute predicts that 15,000 drones may be flying over our nation's skies by 2015.
Roboticist Ryan Calo, director of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, expressed fears that the drones could be used by tabloids like the New York Post to spy on celebrities in populated areas, though. He says that the fliers could be paired with facial recognition technology to automatically track their celebrity target of interest.
Given News Corp.'s overseas invasions into privacy in the name of tabloid journalism, perhaps this fear is warranted. A bit of a non-sequitur raised by Forbes -- drones can also be used to hack into cell phones. Hopefully News Corp. doesn't find that factoid out.
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