Winn was charged with shooting at an aircraft, criminal mischief damage over $1,000, and discharging a firearm in public or residential property.
Business Insider notes that the FAA doesn’t distinguish between a drone and a passenger jet when it comes to attempts to sabotage a commercial aircraft. It means that shooting a drone is classed as a felony and could see perpetrators fined and sent to prison for up to 20 years.
Walmart says it has completed more than 20,000 safe drone deliveries over the last two years, and that it is expanding its drone delivery program for up to 75% of the Dallas-Fort Worth population, covering an additional 1.8 million homes.
In other recent drone news, more police forces are considering using the UAVs in first responder (DFR) programs, in which they are sent to 911 calls ahead of officers to assess a situation. Digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation warns that while this may sound good in practice, the programs can be used for privacy-invading surveillance and over-policing.
My favorite part is that the legal consequences for shooting at a passenger airplane and a fucking Walmart drone could potentially be the same.
What’s the odds that these things don’t become regular theft targets, even of the drones themselves? Porch pirates are enough of a thing now, can’t see any of them feeling bad about robbing a robot.