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A comment on FAA says monetized videos shot from drones are subject to commercial regulations. Parent comment

Re:FAA says monetized videos shot from drones are subject to... by jjcm on Thursday March 12, 2015 @04:02PM (#9193430)
The problem is that the FAA doesn't issue licenses for private use of commercial drones right now, effectively making monetized videos against the law.

Quote from another article:

"Chris Servicky, a licensed helicopter pilot who helps run the company, says they never got the FAA’s letter and says that he talked to the FAA about trying to get certified and they said no.

'They don’t want you to make money off of it, so we sell the editing of the video,' he said."[1]

Saying monetized drone videos are legal is akin to saying meth is legal. Technically it is if you have a prescription, but it's near impossible to get a prescription, rendering that point moot when it comes to legality.

[1] http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/these-are-the-companies-the...

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Re:FAA says monetized videos shot from drones are subject to... by hkmurakami on Thursday March 12, 2015 @07:39PM (#9194774)
I wonder how large the fines are.

I've seen plenty of SV real estate guys using drones for aerial shots for their listings, and since the revenue per deal is large in a residential real estate sale, unless the fine is substantial it'll just get rolled up into "cost of doing business".

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Re:FAA says monetized videos shot from drones are subject to... by blottsie on Friday March 13, 2015 @09:05AM (#9196897)
There aren't many instances of actual fines, but this is the most prominent one: The FAA tried to fine drone pilot Raphael Pirker $10,000 [1] for being paid by the University of Virginia Medical Center to film a promo video with a drone. Pirker challenged the fine and won. The FAA changed its rules after that decision and Pirker eventually settled for $1,100.

[1] http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-...

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Re:FAA says monetized videos shot from drones are subject to... by hatipsa on Friday March 13, 2015 @11:29AM (#9197621)
IANAL, but I think that (drone photos of real estate) falls under "flight in furtherance of business," which is legal for those without a commercial certificate.

Taking photos of real estate and then selling those photos to a real estate agent would still be illegal, thouigh.

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Re:FAA says monetized videos shot from drones are subject to... by matthewmcg on Thursday March 12, 2015 @04:15PM (#9193540)
They are hard to get, but they have issued some permits:

http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId...

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Re:FAA says monetized videos shot from drones are subject to... by uberdog on Thursday March 12, 2015 @08:04PM (#9194874)
No license yet, but they're giving waivers for commercial use: https://www.faa.gov/uas/legislative_programs/section_333/
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Re:FAA says monetized videos shot from drones are subject to... by 15155 on Thursday March 12, 2015 @08:33PM (#9194989)
> Technically it is if you have a prescription, but it's near impossible to get a prescription

Not with severe ADHD.

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