So I'm sure you all hear about this:
http://www.npr.org/...
Amazon is looking at drastically reducing its delivery times — to 30 minutes or less — as it plans a new service called Prime Air that it says could debut in a few years. In an interview on CBS' 60 Minutes, CEO Jeff Bezos said the giant online retailer plans to use semi-autonomous drones to carry purchases to customers.
That's got tech experts buzzing about whether the idea will fly.
Bezos that Amazon's "octocopters" could be airborne within four to five years, using GPS coordinates to find customers. "These are effectively drones," Bezos says, "but there's no reason that they can't be used as delivery vehicles."
The drones would depart from the retailer's "fulfillment centers," the huge warehouses it has built near many large population centers in the U.S. and elsewhere. They can carry about 5 pounds, Bezos says, a figure that covers around 85 percent of Amazon's products.
"I know this looks like science fiction," Bezos tells Rose. "It's not." - NPR, 12/2/13
Sounds pretty exciting, and Amazon could really use the good press right now:
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Beyond that — beyond Amazon’s meteoric stock price, its capacity to bring more goodies to more people in less time, its ceaseless innovation, its ability to make other retailers look hapless — the company is enduring an unusual period of criticism. Its success is breeding anger.
Amazon warehouse workers are striking in Germany. The French are proposing to restrain the company with a law that forbids discounting on books. And in Britain, sending an undercover reporter to an Amazon warehouse is becoming routine.
The most recent such investigation, which offered an indictment not only of Amazon but also of the culture that makes it such a success, was published last weekend in The Guardian.
Her fellow workers at Amazon, Carole Cadwalladr wrote, used to be builders, hospitality managers, marketing graduates, technicians, carpenters and electricians.
“They owned their own businesses, and they were made redundant,” she added. “Or the business went bust. Or they had a stroke. Or their contract ended. They are people who had skilled jobs, or professional jobs, or just better-paying jobs. And now they work for Amazon, earning the minimum wage, and most of them are grateful to have that.”
In the United States, any resistance is much more muted. But Amazon fought back hard this fall against a new book, “The Everything Store” by Brad Stone, accusing it of containing an unbalanced depiction of the company as a brutal place to work.
“The timing is interesting,” said Sucharita Mulpuru, a Forrester analyst. “The drones could be a game-changer — 20 years from now.” - New York Times, 12/2/13
But the drone deliver plan has caught some lawmakers' attention:
http://thehill.com/...
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said privacy protections need to be in place before Amazon starts delivering packages with drones.
Markey noted that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is considering expanding the commercial use of drones, but said privacy worries must be met first.
“Before drones start delivering packages, we need the FAA to deliver privacy protections for the American public," he said in a statement.
"Convenience should never trump constitutional protections," Markey continued. “Before our skies teem with commercial drones, clear rules must be set that protect the privacy and safety of the public."
The FAA is scheduled to issue a ruling on the impact of increasing the use of commercial drones on the U.S. airline industry by 2015. - The Hill, 12/2/13
Here's a little more info:
http://news.cnet.com/...
The drones that Markey is concerned about are not the ones used by the military to carry weapons, but instead he has focused his attention on drones used for other purposes, such as law enforcement surveillance, as well as some commercial uses like mapping, traffic monitoring, journalistic newsgathering, and now package delivery.
The FAA grants permission to use drones, but it currently does not offer licenses for drones used for commercial purposes. The current licenses approved for drone use are used by military and law enforcement agencies, as well as universities and local governments.
As drone technology evolves and commercial deployment seems viable, Congress has directed the FAA to come up with standards by 2015 to create regulations and to streamline the process for applying for licenses. This would pave the way for using drones for commercial and recreational purposes.
But Markey believes that in addition to rules that will make it easier to use drones, the agency also needs to address privacy issues in the new regulation. His bill would require the FAA to collect information from every drone license applicant, such as who will operate the drone, where the drone will be flown, what kind of data will be collected, and how that data will be used.
Licensees will also have to explain whether the information collected will be sold to third parties and they will also have to disclose how long they expect to retain the collected information. The FAA would also be required to post information about companies and individuals granted the licenses and list the times and locations that they used the drones.
"Before our skies teem with commercial drones, clear rules must be set that protect the privacy and safety of the public," Markey said in his statement on Monday. "I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues on this bipartisan issue to ensure that strong personal privacy protections and public transparency measures are put in place now." - CNET, 12/2/13
And here's a little more background info on Markey's record when it comes to drones:
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/...
In November, Markey, a member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, introduced legislation known as the “Drone Aircraft Privacy and Transparency Act,” which would require transparency in the use of domestic drones and privacy protections to ensure drones cannot be used to spy on people, even if they are making simple deliveries.
“I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues on this bipartisan issue to ensure that strong personal privacy protections and public transparency measures are put in place now,” he said.
Bezos recognized that the hardest part of getting the project off the ground would be roadblocks by the FAA and members of Congress. Not to mention, the reliability of unmanned machines doing all the work without making a mistake.
“I know it can’t be before 2015, because that’s the earliest we could get the rules from the FAA,” he told 60 Minutes. “My guess is … that’s probably a little optimistic. But could it be, you know, four, five years? I think so. It will work, and it will happen, and it’s [going to] be a lot of fun.” - Boston Magazine, 12/2/13
If you would like more information, please contact Senator Markey for more information:
(202) 224-2742
http://www.markey.senate.gov/...