VA REPRESENTIN !
Charlottesville, Va., has become the first city in the United States to formally pass an anti-drone resolution.
The resolution, passed Monday, "calls on the United States Congress and the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia to adopt legislation prohibiting information obtained from the domestic use of drones from being introduced into a Federal or State court," and "pledges to abstain from similar uses with city-owned, leased, or borrowed drones."
Councilmember Dede Smith, who voted in favor of the bill, says that drones are "pretty clearly a threat to our constitutional right to privacy."
Smith admits that the final legislation won't do anything to prevent federal- or state-operated drones from operating over Charlottesville's skies, but that the symbolic move could push other cities to follow suit.
"With a lot of these resolutions, although they don't have a lot of teeth to them, they can inspire other governments to pass similar measures," she says. "You can get a critical mass and then it does have influence. One doesn't do much, but a thousand of them might. We want this on [federal and state lawmakers'] radars."www.usnews.com...
The Florida legislature will consider a bill in the 2013 session that would protect residents and visitors from prying eyes in the sky.
The Tenth Amendment Center reports that State Senator Joe Negron (R-Palm City) filed Senate Bill 92 last month. If passed, the Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act would prohibit the use of domestic drones over the Sunshine State.
“A law enforcement agency may not use a drone to gather evidence or other information.”
"I'm very optimistic about the bill passing, and the response I get from my constituents is they want the government to be able to have reasonable investigations but they don't want their lawful activities monitored," he said.