The opening of the Joint Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Information Security Laboratory at the Kaohsiung Science Park yesterday was met by protests that ever-changing government policy has significantly increased overhead for drone operators.
The laboratory is part of a comprehensive government plan to regulate UAVs, with the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) expected to propose an amendment to the Regulations of Drones (遙控無人機管理規則) next month.
The laboratory is expected to establish a standard and distribute information security certification for UAVs, the Executive Yuan said in a report.
Photo: CNA
The facility can process about 95 drones per day.
A group of about 40 protesters said the government’s changes in policy do not take into account drone operators’ overheads.
Kaohsiung UAV Technician Union member Lo Jui-hao (羅睿豪) said that operators were willing to comply with government policies, but that the ever-increasing rules were unbearable.
“They are killing the development of the UAV industry,” Lo said.
Lo said he spent more than NT$1 million (US$32,693) over two-and-a-half years to obtain certification for his drone, which weighs more than 25kg and is used in agriculture.
Lo said it is absurd that after all that effort, he would have to obtain a separate certificate for information security, adding: “The government’s standards are constantly changing.”
Kaohsiung Remote-controlled Sports Association Director Chen Ching-ting (陳慶庭) said that there are too many CAA regulations, most of which are not enforced, adding that there were “black flight operators.”
Chen said that the government is punishing those who obey the rules and forcing people to operate outside the law.
CAA Director Lin Kuo-hsien (林國顯) said that, in principle, the agency is trying to implement regulations at the source, starting with UAVs manufactured domestically and moving to imported devices.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
IN FULL SWING: Recall drives against lawmakers in Hualien, Taoyuan and Hsinchu have reached the second-stage threshold, the campaigners said Campaigners in a recall petition against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) in Taichung yesterday said their signature target is within sight, and that they need a big push to collect about 500 more signatures from locals to reach the second-stage threshold. Recall campaigns against KMT lawmakers Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) and Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) are also close to the 10 percent threshold, and campaigners are mounting a final push this week. They need about 800 signatures against Chiang and about 2,000 against Yang. Campaigners seeking to recall Lo said they had reached the threshold figure over the
RSS