I don't love that I am doing it, but my current take on anything related to "are drones safe in cities, what will people be using them for, consumer drones, Slaughterbots, etc." is the trite: they'll probably be banned. The public is starting to realize the risk of consumer drones. That being said, most people probably forgot the Gatwick Drone Incident, where one drone shut down thousands of flights across a couple of days in London (about 140,000 people affected). I would also guess if you ask people about hacked drones, they understand they are scary but unexpected. This difficulty with regulating drones and dealing with vast numbers of them lies parallel to the fact that no one was charged in the Gatwick incident (2 arrests, released without charge)! It is a very messy space, and consumers have a weird infatuation with their loud flying friends.

A group of nongovernmental organisations called on the Trump administration to clarify its policy on drone use, saying they are concerned about reported changes to US rules and a lack of transparency in the decision-making process. "We are deeply concerned that the reported new policy, combined with this administration's reported dramatic increase in lethal operations in Yemen and Somalia, will add to an increase in unlawful killings and in civilian casualties," a joint statement said. The organisations include Amnesty International, the US-based Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch, the ACLU and others. President Donald Trump signed the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act in December. The act funds the US military but also requires Trump to make known to Congress any changes to previous drone policies by March 12.