US law curiously states that the air above our heads is public above 500 feet and that individuals own the air space above their homes up to 83 feet.
So who owns the space between the 83 feet and the 500 feet? The Federal Aviation Administration is currently regulating it in the cause of public safety, but things will soon change because of drones and the desire of big companies to make deliveries to our doorstep from the sky. Difficult to believe this, isn’t it?
The fear is that Amazon will claim ownership of that 427 feet of unclaimed airspace, backed by Google, Facebook, Yahoo and the others. It is also assumed that the Supreme Court will hand it over to them, because these days this is what the Supreme Court does.
Epicurus, standing as he did for equity and fair dealing for all citizens, would expect the worst from the politicians and retire to tend his roses. He wouldn’t expect anything good from this situation, unfortunately. Nor would he really want or need the goods he ordered to be delivered in an hour. It is truly unnecessary. One day delivery is miracle enough.
Where I live there are weekly protests about goods being dumped on doorsteps, then stolen. Often the drivers do not even ring the bell. How, may I ask, will a drone ring the doorbell, get a signature or at least make sure the customer doesn’t get the package stolen?
Write to your Congressman: no drones!