Innovation… Debates over peeping drones

For less than $1,000, small, remotely operated aircraft are increasingly available on the Internet and at hobby stores, and some can be equipped with equally affordable high-definition cameras.

At the same time, some of America’s biggest companies are pushing to use drones for everything from pipeline inspection to land surveys. Their use has pushed lawmakers to weigh the rights of drone pilots against the potential for nefarious intrusions.

Camera-equipped drones have commercial uses — they can inspect crops, photograph real estate and survey land. As the government figures out how to regulate that activity, it has begun rapidly granting waivers from federal rules to drones-for-hire. Scores of companies have obtained permission to fly them.

Officially, small drones may be flown only by hobbyists who belong to community-based organizations such as the Muncie, Indiana, Academy of Model Aeronautics and follow its rules. But growing numbers of non-members are sending them aloft.

Conflict is on the rise. A New Jersey man last year shot down a drone flying over his neighborhood. Last June, a woman in Connecticut was arrested after she was accused of assaulting a young man flying a helicopter drone over a public beach.

But increasingly, the debate has been about the drones being abused to infiltrate citizens privacy.

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