Community Community Five tips to Veena Srivani, make sure a well-known P4 you travel P16 veena player in peace and from India, happiness, performs without ancient string feeling unwell. music in Doha. Friday, October 25, 2019 Safar 26, 1441 AH Doha today: 280 - 350 White noise COVER STORY What if a delivery drone falls on your head? Thorny legal questions loom as services increase. P2-3 CUISINE SHOWBIZ Nutritious chia seeds can Salman expects Radhe to make any food healthier. soar in cop action genre. Page 6 Page 15 2 GULF TIMES Friday, October 25, 2019 COMMUNITY COVER STORY Drone cometh Technology is only part of the puzzle. There are still questions about how drone delivery systems will PRAYER TIME navigate privacy and trespassing issues and concerns Fajr 4.19am Shorooq (sunrise) 5.39am about noise, writes Samantha Masunaga Zuhr (noon) 11.19am Asr (afternoon) 2.34pm Maghreb (sunset) 5pm Isha (night) 6.30pm USEFUL NUMBERS Emergency 999 Worldwide Emergency Number 112 Kahramaa – Electricity and Water 991 Local Directory 180 International Calls Enquires 150 Hamad International Airport 40106666 Labor Department 44508111, 44406537 Mowasalat Taxi 44588888 Qatar Airways 44496000 Hamad Medical Corporation 44392222, 44393333 Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation 44845555, 44845464 Primary Health Care Corporation 44593333 44593363 Qatar Assistive Technology Centre 44594050 Qatar News Agency 44450205 44450333 Q-Post – General Postal Corporation 44464444 Humanitarian Services Offi ce (Single window facility for the repatriation of bodies) Ministry of Interior 40253371, 40253372, 40253369 Ministry of Health 40253370, 40253364 magine you’re standing in Hamad Medical Corporation 40253368, 40253365 your front yard when a drone Qatar Airways 40253374 fl ies overhead, delivering a package to one of your neighbours. IThe drone goes over your house, fl ying much lower than a helicopter could. Would that be considered te Unqu trespassing? After all, you didn’t uo ot even order the package. What if Q e the drone took pictures of you and “If everything else in your yard as it opportunity went by; is that allowed? What if it malfunctioned and fell on your doesn’t knock, build a head — who would be at fault? These are some of the thorny door.” legal questions that will have — Milton Berle to be answered as companies such as Google parent Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc and UPS Inc start preparing for a future Legal precedent is very thin where delivery by drone is more here. Little of the existing law widespread. Last week, Alphabet subsidiary is based specifically on drones Wing became the fi rst company Community Editor to operate a commercial drone delivery service in the United Kamran Rehmat States: It ferried tissues, e-mail: [email protected] — Arthur Holland Michel, bottled water, cough drops Telephone: 44466405 co-director of Center for the and other products to people Fax: 44350474 in Christiansburg, Virginia. Study of the Drone at Bard College Christiansburg is small — it has ‘ ’ only about 21,000 residents — and Friday, October 25, 2019 GULF TIMES 3 COVER STORY COMMUNITY DILEMMA: Drones are categorised as aircraft, and the FAA has stipulated that no-one has the right to interfere with the flight of an aircraft. “There’s a lot of uncertainty now in the law for those kinds of issues,” says Robert Heverly, associate professor of law at Albany Law School. Wing’s delivery service is only for Some property owners have information the drone collected the airspace will be very crowded could defer responsibility the last mile of a package’s journey, argued that they own a certain during its fl ight to help make with drones that are all capturing to the contracted operator if but there are plans for more amount of the airspace above their recommendations for future information,” Holland Michel said. something happened, though it coverage in the future. homes, meaning any drones that fl y purchases. For example, if the depends on how much control Wing isn’t the only company into that area without permission drone took an image of your dead If a drone has a glitch and the companies have over the interested. This month, UPS would be unwanted visitors. lawn while it was delivering your drops its package on you, individual subcontractors, got permission from the Federal Others have said you don’t own package, perhaps you’d get more leaving you injured, who’s at Heverly said. The more rules and Aviation Administration to operate that when it comes to aircraft. online ads for fertiliser. fault? restrictions the company has for delivery drones at university, Drones are categorised as aircraft, While many local governments In some cases, existing laws its subcontractors, the more the hospital and corporate campuses. and the FAA has stipulated that no- forbid the use of drones for could apply. For example, if a company could be considered the Amazon, meanwhile, has long one has the right to interfere with surveillance purposes, it’s unclear delivery drone dropped a package employer, meaning it would take been working on its own robotic the fl ight of an aircraft. whether the activities described that hit someone, the drone on the liability. delivery service, and this summer “There’s a lot of uncertainty now in Amazon’s data analysis patent operator and his or her employer For the person who was hit by it unveiled a new drone that it said in the law for those kinds of issues,” would fall under that defi nition, would most likely be liable — in line the drone, their lawyer would was optimised for courier work. said Robert Heverly, associate Holland Michel said. with standard rules on negligence, likely sue both parties — the drone But technology is only part professor of law at Albany Law Current privacy standards were Heverly said. operator and the company that of the puzzle. There are still School. established long before the advent The same would likely apply to a hired that operator — and sort questions about how drone delivery Others have expressed concerns of drones, let alone potential drone drone that damaged property in the out the responsible party through systems will navigate privacy and about what kinds of data delivery delivery operations, he said. course of a delivery, Heverly said. litigation, Heverly said. trespassing issues and concerns drones could gather on their fl ights “There are questions around But it could get tricky if delivery about noise. to and from drop-off points. whether these standards need to be companies employ subcontractors How loud is too loud for a “Legal precedent is very thin Amazon has a patent for a data updated in light of the fact that we to operate the drones. drone buzzing through the air? here,” said Arthur Holland Michel, analysis system that would use are looking at a near-future where In those cases, the companies In April, Wing launched its fi rst co-director of the Center for the air delivery service in Canberra, Study of the Drone at Bard College. Australia, but not all of the “Little of the existing law is based residents were happy with it. specifi cally on drones.” People complained that the drones It’s also unclear who will be “For the person who was hit were too noisy. the ultimate arbitrator for these The Australian government later concerns. The FAA is in charge of by the drone, their lawyer found that the decibel level from aircraft safety, but questions of would likely sue both about 50 feet away was similar to privacy or trespassing could be a loud television and exceeded the left up to the states, said William parties — the drone operator daytime noise standard for the Breetz, vice president of the residential area. Wing developed Uniform Laws Commission, a and the company that hired a quieter propeller and promised nonprofi t organisation that drafts other improvements, the Australian model legislation for states and that operator — and sort Broadcasting Corp. reported. It’s began tackling drone laws more out the responsible party still operating in Canberra. than two years ago. Small drones can be signifi cantly Here’s more information about through litigation” quieter than larger, professional- some of these undetermined issues. quality ones, though the sound from all drones are typically Do you own part of the less noticeable the higher they airspace above your house or — Robert Heverly, fl y, Heverly said. In the United can a drone fl y freely through? associate professor of law States, he said, regulating drone When it comes to drone delivery noise will probably be up to local services, questions about potential at Albany Law School governments. trespassing still remain. — Los Angeles Times/TNS 4 GULF TIMES Friday, October 25, 2019 COMMUNITY BODY & MIND ON THE HORIZON: If you can get a view of the outside and a horizon reference, it’s always helpful. CONSISTENCY: Practise keeping your breathing regular and consistent. Ways to manage travel sickness Emine Saner gives five tips to make sure you travel in peace and happiness, without feeling unwell ocus on your breathing, to be helpful.” Nicotine tends to half as eff ective as a drug,” says stay still – and keep your make motion sickness worse, as Golding. An inhibitory refl ex eyes on the horizon can having a big meal or drinking between respiration and vomiting alcohol before travelling. stops you inhaling vomit. “The Avoid triggers vomiting refl ex turns off the F Explore medicinal measures respiratory impulse; if you’re Don’t travel on small planes, Over-the-counter medication concentrating on your breathing, which tend to be worse than larger containing hyoscine can be that can inhibit vomiting.” Practise jets.