Blogs

As this site becomes bigger and attracts more attention, I'd like to emphasize to new users and old that a big part of our mission is promoting and protecting responsible use of UAVs. We have encouraged regulators, defense organizations and law enforcement agencies to join this community to become better informed about what's possible with small UAVs, and many have done so.

If you are not already aware that what you say here may be read by police and regulators, you should be. They're here and are paying attention. I personally think that's a good thing, and I spend a lot of time with such organizations explaining what we do and inviting them to participate. Our message is this: the site is for peaceful, civilian use of UAVs, which is the big new area that we're collectively working to build here. Anything else is banned.

To make this as clear as possible, I've added the following to our site policies:

7) No discussion of illegal or harmful use of UAVs will be tolerated. Responsible use of UAVs is at the core of our mission. That means conforming with all laws in the United States, where this site is based, and insisting that our members elsewhere follow the laws of their own countries. In addition, we feel that part of our responsibility it to help the relevant authorities understand what's possible with amateur UAVs, so they can make better-informed policies and laws. So we have encouraged all relevant regulators, defense agencies and law enforcement agencies to become members here and even participate to help them do that, and many have. In addition, if we see any discussion of UAV use that we feel is potentially illegal or intended to do harm, we will bring it to the attention to the relevant authorities, and will comply with any legal request they make for information about users (although we don't know much that isn't public; see the next item).

8) Your privacy is protected, up to a point: This is a social network, so everything you write and post here is public, with certain exceptions: 1) Your private messages are private. Administrators are unable to see them, nor can anyone else other than the recipient. 2) Your IP address is private. We are hosted on Ning, which controls the server logs. DIY Drones administrators can only see your username and email address; they cannot see your password and do not have access to your account.