My personal concerns over all of this?
As we have already proven, Remote ID is very easy to spoof. Open source software is publicly available which easily allows you to transmit spurious Remote ID data. We can spoof multiple drones flying randomly, anywhere we like.
The system is flawed before it’s even started
It won’t stop bad actors. People who want to fly drugs in to prisons will either 1) Hack the drone and disable Remote ID or 2) Not use a RID-enabled drone in the first place
Flight records will likely be stored forever, or at least a very long time. Is that a bad thing? No, probably not. I’m sure my truck registration plate has been scanned by ANPR cameras and stored in a database tens of thousands of times over the years.
My fear with the historically stored data is who will have access to it? Can any random member of the public access it whenever they like via CAA website? (or even via Drone Scene)
How will CAA fund the Remote ID infrastructure? It’s going to cost millions of pounds to develop, and millions more to maintain. Our registration fees are very likely to go up to pay for something we don’t want or need.
We will be forced to spend additional money on buying compatible drones, or certified beacons. These transmitters will not be subsidised by CAA like the ADS-B transmitters have been subsidised for General Aviation (GA)
Planning on building a sub-250g drone that’s compliant? Or making your old/existing <250g drone compliant in the future? You can probably forget that now with the additional weight of the beacon you’ll have to attach. And where do you attach it? These things are not small.
Your <250g drone is only except from Remote ID if it does not have a camera. It’s also worth noting that “legacy” drones will only require Remote ID from 1st January 2028 onwards.
My biggest fear with Remote ID however, is the live public broadcast factor.
We hear all too often of our Club members being approached by angry members of the public, accusing them of spying on their properties, filming their children, looking for lead to steal from the local church roof. The list goes on.
Imagine now, if every single flight you make is not only being broadcast to the entire world in real-time, but also the EXACT location of where you are stood. Suddenly Mr or Mrs Angry can not only see you on a map, but can also be guided directly to you by their smartphone.
This will expose us all to a significant risk of assault. Drones aren’t cheap either, criminals could use our location data for the purposes of theft or robbery too
It’s worth noting that the planned CAA implementation of RID will see the position of the operator broadcast to anyone within range of the Direct transmission method. CAA are not proposing the operator location be made visible via Networked transmission. I don’t think this solves the problem though, you’re still at risk of robbery or assault from anyone with a smartphone or a laptop that’s within range of your drone.
How will first responders feel about their location being broadcast in real-time?
If the police are using a drone to track a criminal who’s just abandoned a stolen car, all that criminal needs to do is open an app on their smartphone, see where the drone and operator are, and quite simply run off in the opposite direction
The press and media will love this though, imagine being a local news reporter and having instant access or alerts to a police, fire or other first responder drone being flown in your borough? That reporter simply needs to jump in their car and head over to the pilots location and they’ve got the latest scoop. The police have enough on their plate without having to fight off nosey reporters
In case you couldn’t tell, personally, I can’t see a single positive argument for Remote ID
What are your thoughts on Remote ID?
I’m interested to hear your positives and negatives