"I intentionally purchased a home on a hill which gives me breathtaking views and what I think is a sense of privacy," he says. "I would prefer a drone to not be flying over or near my property snapping pictures of my life, of my possessions."

Sedlacek is one of more than 10,000 people to list his address on NoFlyZone.org. Think of it as the equivalent of the Do Not Call list for the drone age. Sedlacek and thousands of other people are hoping to send a clear message to drone pilots nearby: Keep your quadcopter off my lawn. People who don't want drones flying above or near their houses register their home addresses with NoFlyZone's online, global database. An email confirmation completes the free process, whereby each property's precise longitude and latitude--but not addresses or property owners' names--are shared with and accessible to, so far, seven manufacturers of drones and drone operating systems, including DroneDeploy and Ehang, makers of the Ghost Drone.

"What we're doing is providing them with the data, and it's up to the partners for how they implement it," says Ben Marcus, founder of the NoFlyZone service. "At a bare minimum, our partners are going to be providing this information to their users. Some are taking it a step further by physically preventing flight by coding in a geofence."

Marcus says an online map will soon be available that shows the positions of registered properties and other locations--airports, military installations, hospitals, schools, and temporary flight restrictions--included in the NoFlyZone database.

Drone owners will steer clear if they know the coordinates of nearby properties that have opted into NoFlyZone's database, the thinking goes. The same applies to drone manufacturers, who can distribute NoFlyZone's data through software updates. Future plans include letting NoFlyZone registrants customize their airspace to allow package-delivery drones to reach their doorsteps but still prevent camera drones from flying overhead. For now, people can register one property per email address on NoFlyZone.org. Proof of residence--a utility bill, for instance--has to be provided if someone wants to register a second property, and, to protect registrants' privacy, property data are "separated so it's difficult to tie a name to an address or email address," Marcus says.

Marcus, who is 32 years old and lives in El Segundo, Calif., has been an aerial enthusiast from a young age. As a boy, he flew model airplanes. At age 17, he became a licensed pilot. At 24, Marcus cofounded his first company, jetAVIVA, a broker of light business jets. He owns a drone that he uses to take photos and video, and thinks that drones will be as common as cell phones a decade from now.

"I've become more and more excited about the possibilities drones bring to us," he says.

Those possibilities have expanded as drone technology has shrunk in recent years. It's only a matter of time before lightweight drones for photography, filmmaking, aerial surveying of crops and oil stacks, advertising, and other uses are commonplace. (The Federal Aviation Administration recently released proposed regulations--a long time in the making--that will eventually govern such commercial flights.)

But the proliferation of small drones has led to louder calls regarding people's privacy rights. What's there to ensure a drone isn't spying on someone in their home? President Obama pledged last summer to issue an executive order that would place the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in charge of developing privacy guidelines for commercial drone flights. After a quadcopter crashed on the White House lawn in January, the president reiterated those privacy concerns, saying a structure needs to be established to prevent drones from "violating people's privacy."

"There's really no reason for people to be flying over private property without that owner's permission," Marcus says.

Although, there's nothing NoFlyZone can do in the way of enforcement. Signing up on the site can't stop drone operators from flying near someone's house. Even the site's FAQ page points out that registering your property on NoFlyZone is no guarantee that a drone fly-by won't happen in front of your foyer window. "We're seeking the voluntary participation from the drone industry and drone community,” Marcus says.

According to Stuart Banner, a UCLA law professor and member of NoFlyZone's advisory board, homeowners do own a certain amount of their airspace. But Banner contends any argument over whether property owners own the sky above their houses is a moot point. "It doesn't really matter for NoFlyZone whether landowners own their air rights," he says. "Because you and I, we can make a contract that you won't go somewhere."

Whether drone operators stick to an honor system by voluntarily agreeing to keep their drones from flying over the properties of NoFlyZone registrants is the question.

"We have an opportunity for this industry to do the right thing: to make it safe, secure, responsible," says Marcus. "I really think this can expand the market for drones, not limit it."

Like this story? Read "Get Ready for 'Drone Nation'" from the Oct. 8, 2014 issue of Fortune magazine.

Amazon, in its sole statement regarding the FAA proposal, said it remains “prepared to deploy [Prime Air] where we have the regulatory support we need.” Translation: We’re willing to move our operations elsewhere.

It’s not the first time the company AMZN has hinted at the prospect. “Our continuing innovation through outdoor testing in the United States and, more generally, the competitiveness of the American small UAS [Unmanned Aircraft Systems] industry, can no longer afford to wait,” said Paul Misener, Amazon vice president for global policy, in a note to the FAA written on Dec. 7, 2014. “Amazon is increasingly concerned that, unless substantial progress is quickly made in opening up the skies in the United States, the nation is at risk of losing its position as the center of innovation for the UAS technological revolution, along with the key jobs and economic benefits that come as a result. … Without approval of our testing in the United States, we will be forced to continue expanding our Prime Air R&D footprint abroad.”

Amazon already has a research and development facility in Cambridge, England, where it has been focusing on Prime Air. Less than five hours away, an independent facility in Wales specializes in outdoor drone testing, with permission from the United Kingdom’s Civil Aviation Authority to test limited long-range trials.

While drone deliveries are still illegal in the U.K., the country does seem more open to the idea. Should that not work out, though, there are several other countries whose drone policies are more relaxed policies than the U.S.

Australia, for example, has warmly welcomed other companies wishing to test drone delivery. Google GOOG recently ran trials in Queensland, the third-most populous state in the country, for its Project Wing autonomous drone delivery service.

And, in Germany, DHL launched an experimental drone delivery service called “parcelcopter” in December 2013, carrying small parcels to the small island of Juist (population 2,000).

“Our DHL parcelcopter 2.0 is already one of the safest and most reliable flight systems in its class that meets the requirements needed to fulfill such a mission,” said J?rgen Gerdes, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL’s Post-eCommerce-Parcel Division, in a statement made at the time of the launch.

Canada, meanwhile, has the same line-of-sight requirements the FAA proposed, but it doesn’t require the operators to be certified as long as the UAS is under 55 lbs.

And while Amazon isn’t likely to greatly expand its footprint in China merely to focus on drones, the country has shown a willingness to embrace the technology. Earlier this month, Alibaba’s Taobao division announced on its blog that it had launched a three-day trial, using drones to deliver a specific type of tea to 450 customers within an hour of its distribution centers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

It’s important to note that none of these countries has signed off on widespread drone deliveries. And the FAA has been clear that its recent proposals are not final.

Still, it does seem that a face-off between the agency and Amazon has been brewing for some time.

“I fear the FAA may be questioning the fundamental benefits of keeping UAS technology innovation in the United States,” said Misener in his December note. “Simply put, Prime Air has great potential to enhance the services we already provide to millions of our customers by providing rapid parcel delivery that will also increase the overall safety and efficiency of the transportation system. … Without the ability to test outdoors in the Unites States soon, we will have no choice but to divert even more of our UAS research and development resources abroad.”

Like this story? Read “Get Ready for ‘Drone Nation’” from the Oct. 8, 2014 issue of Fortune magazine.

A first pass at the 195-page document shows an FAA that is far more in tune with industry needs than many imagined, providing a kind of "healing moment," as one source puts it, for an industry and a regulatory overseer whose relations have long been strained. Many drone industry insiders have variously regarded the FAA as dawdling, too risk-averse, and overly burdensome. The agency has struggled to produce a set of cohesive regulations regarding drone use--particularly commercial use--as drone technology has exploded over the past several years.

But the proposal shows that the FAA has worked hard to avoid overly-onerous regulations. It’s a promising sign for companies that want to integrate drones into their day-to-day operations and the drone makers eager to supply them with hardware, software, and support.

"I think the FAA has had a tremendously difficult job to do, and I think what they came out with over the weekend was surprising," says Matthew Bieschke, president of the $2.2 billion UAS America Fund, an investment fund designed to facilitate financing of infrastructure related to unmanned aerial systems. "It was less conservative than a lot of people in the industry thought it would be."

That surprise--or relief--is a common sentiment around the nascent industry.

"I would say that what we're seeing is refreshing," says Jesse Kallman, head of business development and regulatory affairs at Airware, a San Francisco-based startup that develops operating systems and other technologies for drones. "We were expecting that even within this already walled-off environment we were going to see a significant amount of additional rules."

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking contains plenty of rules. But most are no more restrictive than the industry was expecting. (In many cases the rules are somewhat more relaxed than many drone advocates feared.) Broadly, the proposed rule stipulates that drones used for commercial operations should weigh less than 55 pounds, fly only during daylight hours in good weather, fly no faster than 100 miles per hour, stay away from airports, and remain within visible line of sight of the operator. While the proposal doesn't distinguish between very small drones and larger models or provide for beyond-line-of-sight operations, it also doesn't burden users with onerous airworthiness or pilot training requirements.

But there are aspects of the notice that the FAA got wrong, says Brendan Schulman, head of the unmanned aircraft systems practice at New York City-based law firm Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel. For instance, the document seems to place drone-related academic research under the umbrella of commercial operations, making drone-enabled research more difficult. The rules prohibit flying at night or at altitudes above 500 feet, which doesn't make sense in rural areas where the airspace (and ground space below) is largely clear. And for the time being the proposed rules sweep aside drone delivery concepts like the one hatched by Amazon.

"The proposal considers drone delivery to be air carriage subject to heightened regulatory standards outside the UAS proposal," Schulman told Fortune in an email. "That’s a legal distinction that made sense in the manned aircraft era but I am not sure why they are holding on to it. It strikes me as a real blow to Amazon and other companies that have been working on drone delivery projects."

Critically, the proposal will not require small drones to comply with the FAA's airworthiness or aircraft certification regulations--that is, users won't have to certify their 10-pound drones by the same process that one certifies a Cessna--and will not require the same training or medical rating required of manned aircraft pilots. Rather, the FAA will create a separate knowledge-based certification process for drone operators that will require regular recertification. These two aspects of the proposal could be the most impactful for companies, as getting their drones into the air won't be nearly as costly or time-consuming.

"People feared that the new process would look like the Section 333 exemption process up to and including the private pilot's license requirement," says Lisa Ellman, counsel and co-chair of the UAS Practice Group at the D.C. office of McKenna Long & Aldridge, referring to the FAA's current means of approving commercial drone applications on a case-by-case basis. "That's a really involved process and it's not easy, it's a several-month process. So this is a huge, wonderful thing, this new UAS operator's certificate. It will be relatively easy to get and will make drones broadly accessible."

While the specifics of FAA’s proposal are encouraging to commercial drone advocates, it's the broad strokes of the document that are perhaps most promising to companies looking to take advantage of drone technology, Ellman says--echoing Bieschke, Kallman, and many others within the industry that have issued press releases, blogged, and publicly opined about the document since it's release Sunday morning. The document shows an FAA that recognizes that drone technology is outpacing policy and was careful to build flexibility into its proposed rules and processes.

Critics say the proposed rules lack a provision providing for beyond-line-of-sight operations (critical for applications like power line or pipeline inspection) and a distinction between hulking 50-pound drone aircraft and small, four-pound quadrotors. But the document leaves the door open to such things in the future. Though the FAA has been careful to stick to its core mission of regulating the national airspace and leave privacy issues to other more appropriate agencies, the White House on Sunday released a memorandum on privacy and transparency that will not only guide government agencies in their use of drones but also create a process for developing and enforcing new privacy norms through the Department of Commerce--a signal that other government agencies are prepared to move forward with drone integration alongside the FAA.

The FAA still remains far from a final set of commercial drone rules. It will accept comments on the proposed rules for the next 60 days and it's expected to take another year to weigh all those comments and process them into a final set of regulations, likely sometime in 2016. But now that companies have a whole lot more clarity on what the FAA and other agencies are thinking they can begin investing in their own concepts of commercial drone operations. For a industry that's been in a holding pattern for the last several years, it's difficult to be anything but upbeat, Ellman says.

"I think this is going to open up lots of investment in the industry, lots more movement in the industry," Ellman says. "Sunday provided a very important moment for all of us because it really gives the industry a sense of certainty, a roadmap for where we're going, and it's all very good news."

I watched as Kerry Garrison, chief operating officer of MultiCopter Warehouse, carefully removes an object from a protective case and begins assembling it. It seems complicated: a white body with black carbon fiber arms, a series of rotors, a high-resolution camera, several batteries, a pair of remote controllers. As he meticulously puts it all together, the device comes into focus: It’s the DJI Inspire 1, a $2,900 aerial robot--a.k.a. a drone.

Garrison flicks his thumbs down on the joysticks and the Inspire, emitting a few beeps, shoots off into the air. The police officer and construction workers stop what they’re doing, turn, and gaze into the sky at the flying object. It stares right back, the camera on its underbelly directed at them.

Garrison hands me the controller. "Please, don't crash it."

With some hesitation, I ease into navigating the Inspire. With a gentle nudge up on the left joystick, the robot climbs higher. For the next few minutes, I fly the drone around the lot, getting a feel for how its mechanics propel it through the air. It’s not unlike the $500 Parrot Bebop that I spent the week flying around my neighborhood. More sophisticated, maybe.

It’s a good thing I didn’t tell Garrison about the week’s activities. My first flight with the Bebop produced something you'd expect to find on America's Funniest Home Videos. I sat it in my yard, tapped the Take Off button on the screen of my iPhone, and watched as the Bebop hovered just above the ground. I thought I could, if you’ll permit the pun, learn on the fly and skipped reading its instructions. Wrong move: Before I knew it, the Bebop was coming directly at me and crashed into the side of my garage. Fearing the worst, I walked over to it and found it to be intact, ready for another flight. (Phew.)

I gave it a second go after watching a few video lessons, with better results. After a few successful flights, I was confident enough to invite my kids to hide in the backyard while I piloted the Bebop from our front driveway. Watching the video stream from the Bebop's high-definition (1080p) camera on my iPad, I flew the Bebop over our house and found all three kids in a matter of minutes in a high-tech version of hide-and-seek.

It wasn’t a long game, though: The Bebop has a battery life of only 10 minutes. It’s a bit disappointing, but Parrot softens the blow a bit by including two batteries in the box.

The highlight of my flying time with the Bebop was getting a photo of my father-in-law’s ranch from 492 feet in the air--the highest the Bebop can go. The quality of the photo isn't as good as I had hoped because the included camera creates a fish-eye effect at the edges of the picture. For most hobbyists, though, it’s more than sufficient.

Drones have created quite a buzz for themselves, and I don’t just mean the loud noises these little machines make from the sky. The recent crash of what appeared to be an older model from DJI on the White House lawn prompted President Obama to urge for regulation on these flying robots.

Back at the parking lot with the Inspire, I ask Garrison what kind of regulation he would like to see from the FAA. There needs to be some regulation so those who fly commercially can secure proper insurance policies, he replies, but not so much that it hurts the fast-growing industry.

On Sunday the FAA published its proposed regulations for commercial pilots. They require pilots to maintain a line of sight on the aircraft, stay under 500 feet, and receive an operator certificate after passing a written test, among other guidelines. For 60 days, the FAA will seek comment on its proposed regulations.

We ease the Inspire back to earth and pack up. Later, Garrison shows me several demo videos he’s recorded and explains how he got into the drone business. "To me, multicopters are about telling a story from a new perspective,” he says. “When it's done right, it just gives you goosebumps." His passion was contagious.

It made me think of the time I started using Instagram, the popular mobile photography application. With it, I could take a rather mundane photo, slap a filter over it, and feel like a professional. I started walking around my everyday world thinking about how parts of it would look through my tiny viewfinder--crop this, filter that. Aerial photography gives you a whole new perspective. And the photography bug that bites you is just as strong.

If not stronger: When you grab the controls of a drone, hear its props start spinning, and watch as a flying object moves around based on your commands, you start to feel like a little kid standing before the RC section at a RadioShack. And, to no one’s surprise, after a week of flying around and testing drones, the little kid inside of me can’t wait for the winter holidays next year. And this time, I promise I won’t crash it. Pinky-swear.

"Logged In" is Fortune's personal technology column, written by Jason Cipriani. Read it on Fortune.com each Tuesday.

If passed as initially outlined, the guidelines could prevent the company from launching the service in the U.S.

Under the draft of the regulations, drone operators must remain within a visual line of site from their drones and are not allowed to fly drones over people who aren’t in control of the aircraft. The rules are bad news for Prime Air, which Amazon had previously showcased using autonomous drones that were not manually operated by staffers.

Amazon, though, said it is still committed to delivering packages to customers via drones, and called on the government agency to rethink its proposal and how it might impact corporations.

"The FAA needs to begin and expeditiously complete the formal process to address the needs of our business, and ultimately our customers,” said Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president for global policy, in a statement. “We are committed to realizing our vision for Prime Air and are prepared to deploy where we have the regulatory support we need."

The rules also limit the weight of an unmanned aircraft to under 55 lbs. Amazon had previously said the initial weight capacity of its drones would be limited to 5 lbs.

The FAA released the proposal for rules regarding drones on Sunday. The agency stressed that the proposals are not final, and that it is seeking input from all interested parties.

"We have tried to be flexible in writing these rules," said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta in a statement. "We want to maintain today's outstanding level of aviation safety without placing an undue regulatory burden on an emerging industry."

The FAA is accepting public comments on the proposed regulation for the next 60 days. Among the areas it specifically mentioned as being up for discussion: whether the rules should permit operations beyond line of sight, and if so, how far operators would be able to fly drones.

Amazon had previously hoped to launch Prime Air in 2015, although that date was always dependent on regulatory approval, and even Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos called it “optimistic.” Now the language on the service’s page is much more ambiguous, saying “Putting Prime Air into service will take some time, but we will deploy when we have the regulatory support needed to realize our vision.”

Amazon initially unveiled Prime Air and its drone delivery ambitions in 2013 as part of a broader effort to further speed up deliveries. In announcing the program, Bezos said the drones could deliver packages within a 10 mile radius of the company’s fulfillment centers within 30 minutes.

Amazon is not the only company looking to drones as possible delivery systems. Google GOOG , Domino’s Pizza and Alibaba BABA have also been conducting trials.

Fortune interviewed the GoPro founder Thursday after he wrapped up an earnings call with analysts. The quarter went quite well, by most measures.

Fourth-quarter revenue grew 75% to $634 million thanks strong holiday sales. Profits nearly tripled to $122.3 million. However, Wall Street wasn’t impressed by the company’s weaker-than-expected guidance and the departure of its chief operating officer, Nina Richardson. After initially spiking 14% in after-hours trading, GoPro’s shares GPRO tumbled more than 15%.

Here’s what Woodman told Fortune about what’s next for GoPro in action cameras, sports media and, maybe, drones.

On GoPro’s year ahead:

“The short answer is really feel really good about the future and about this year,” Woodman said. He pointed to GoPro’s initial public offering in June as helping to build momentum and attract new talent to the company. After the earnings Thursday, GoPro’s shares fell to just over $46, nearly double the IPO price. However, it marks quite a fall from their high of nearly $94.

Woodman’s long-term vision for GoPro includes pushing beyond selling cameras to becoming a full-fledged media company. But it won’t happen tomorrow.

“Our vision for GoPro is a big one and it’s not something we’re going to realize this quarter, next [quarter] or the next,” he said. “This is an incremental, evolutionary thing.”

On the departure of COO Nina Richardson:

“We’re not actually replacing her,” Woodman said. “And, that’s testament to the great job she did -- she built out fabulous teams that have great leadership and she’s left us in a terrific position.”

Richardson joined GoPro from a portfolio company of Riverwood Capital after the private equity firm invested in GoPro in 2011. Her job was to help build the company’s infrastructure and make strategic hires.

“It was clear that, while we could still benefit from her being here, we were going to do just fine if she decided to go on and do other things because of the quality of team that she built,” Woodman said.

A triumvirate led by Woodman, along with company president Anthony Bates and chief financial officer Jack Lazar, will take over Richardson’s duties.

On GoPro’s ambitions of becoming a media empire:

GoPro signaled its serious ambitions in sports broadcasting through recent agreements with the National Hockey League and ESPN’s Winter X Games. Athletes wearing the company’s cameras will film the action live from their perspective.

The first example – the N.H.L. All-Star Game – took place last month.

The first step was to build cameras that come with the ability to stream live video wirelessly. It makes video easy to upload, and is a necessity for broadcasting live events.

GoPro also has deals in place to add its GoPro Channel app to streaming media player Roku and Microsoft’s MSFT Xbox gaming console. The app is a sort of YouTube for action sports nuts who want to either upload or watch videos of dare-devil skateboarding, surfing and rock climbing

Woodman also mentioned GoPro’s major presence on YouTube. Last year, it uploaded nearly four years of user videos to the service. Underscoring the appeal of that video, he said that YouTube viewers spent 59% more time watching those clips on that than the previous year.

“That is a media movement,” Woodman said.

More television and online streaming is coming, Woodman promised But he emphasized that GoPro’s primary goal is for camera owners to shoot more video and to make it easier for them to upload those clips online, watch them and share them.

“From that increased content-sharing by our customers you get an increased pool of content from which we can aggregate the best of user-generated content and redistribute it as the GoPro Channel,” Woodman said.

Only then can GoPro become a media empire with a big enough archive, he said. His company’s interests, he said, are totally aligned with those of its customers.

“We’re building first what they want the most,” Woodman said. “And then, out of their use of our products and services, we’ll get this fabulous media opportunity.”

On action camera rivals and Apple’s potential challenge:

GoPro’s shares took a beating recently following reports that Apple AAPL was awarded a new patent for a wearable video camera. A host of other companies -- including Panasonic, Polaroid and Sony, to name a few -- have already introduced rival action cameras to GoPro’s. But Apple’s entry into the market would take the competition to new level. Apple, after all, knows how to make and sell blockbuster electronics.

But Woodman downplayed the importance of new competitors and called the “whole hullabaloo” over Apple’s patent overblown. As Fortune reported, Apple’s patent application was actually filed in 2012 and it incorporates a patent the tech giant acquired from Eastman Kodak two years ago. While Woodman acknowledged that it’s impossible to know Apples plans, he thinks the patent “by no means implies that Apple is intending to enter the space.”

What’s more, Woodman said GoPro has thrived for years despite “considerable competition.”

“I think that it’s easy, now that we’re public and we’re on the global financial radar, to now be paying attention to these competitors,” he said. “But, the truth is they’ve been around for years.”

On drones:

A few months ago, reports surfaced that GoPro was developing a line of consumer drones. The move would seem to make sense -- GoPro cameras are already a popular way shoot aerial video.

Woodman was cagey about the topic with Fortune saying he could not share what the company may or may not be building. But he did say that he sees drones as a great business opportunity.

“What I can tell you [is] drones are great for GoPro, and GoPro is great for drones,” Woodman said. “Whether or not we officially get into the business, the drone industry has been fabulous for us, because it seems like most of them out there are carrying a GoPro.”

"It was pretty effective," Ellman says with a laugh. "My parents were responsible for implementing it and they did a great job."

The Ellman household's Magna Carta is no longer in effect, but its creator remains a policymaking junky. Now 36, Ellman has spent the past ten years working for Barack Obama. As a co-chair of Washington-based law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Practice Group, she's currently working with the Obama Administration to encourage policymaking efforts that will allow commercial drones to be flown in U.S. airspace.

Ellman first met Obama when she was a student at the University of Chicago Law School. "Most people think of him as President Obama, but I got to know him first as Professor Obama," Ellman says. He was teaching courses on constitutional law and, after Ellman was elected as the president of the Law School Democrats, the future U.S. president became her faculty advisor.

In their one-on-one meetings, Obama encouraged Ellman to get involved in local Chicago politics--including his own campaign for the Senate. She frequently quizzed him about his motivations for going into politics. "I was inspired by how strongly he believed that policy could change the world," Ellman recalls. "That feeling was contagious."

Obama also urged Ellman to help organize a 2004 Democratic National Committee event, which was held in Chicago. "At one event, the plan was for Senator Obama to present Senator [Hillary] Clinton with an award--but he went off-script and invited me up onstage to be the one to present the award to Senator Clinton," she recalls. "He was always doing little things like that to encourage and inspire all of us."

By 2007, Ellman was a newly-minted law school graduate with a joint degree in Public Policy and Law. Then a Senator, Obama began to set his sights on the presidency; he personally invited Ellman to join his presidential campaign as a senior policy associate.

She was tasked with translating Obama's broad ideals into real world policies. "I handled all sorts of issues: open government, healthcare, education, the arts," Ellman says. "For one nine-month period between 2007 and 2008, I lived out of a suitcases, traveling the country to meet the American people and learn how policy impacts them every day. I also met some amazing role models: Samantha Power stayed with me for a week in New Hampshire and I traveled the state of South Carolina with Susan Rice"

After Obama became president, Ellman had the opportunity to take on key positions at the White House. She was the Legal Director of the Office of Presidential Personnel and then the Chief Counselor for the Open Government Partnership.

"Whenever we'd run into each other at the White House, President Obama would enjoy talking about our time at University of Chicago," she says. "I think he really enjoys reflecting on his days as a professor, especially now, when so few people know him from his life before elective office."

One of her earliest tasks was to gather feedback from the American public to help shape policies. This was at a time was Twitter was new and her team was just learning how to use Facebook. "I truly saw the potential for integrating technology and policy--and I have never looked back," she says. "This is the basis for what I've done in my career and what I hope to continue to do." She helped design the "My Policy" online campaign to bring citizen's ideas to the table and led the team that created We the People, a petitions website that allows citizens to express their views directly to the federal government on policy. She then headed the working group responsible for analyzing policies on drone use in the U.S.

Though she's thoroughly enjoyed her time in government, Ellman continues to notice a huge gap in Washington: There is not enough collaboration between lawmakers and innovators. She says policymakers are often several steps behind the scientific community and outdated regulation often holds back the implementation of new ideas.

"A lot of innovators are frustrated with the policy process and this is understandable," Ellman says. This is partly because policymakers are often caught up in the potential risk of a new technology, while innovators are keen to start working on applying it in exciting new ways.

Like drones. Scientists and entrepreneurs are excited about developing new commercial uses for drones--from filmmaking to improving agriculture to inspecting pipes to delivering packages. In other countries, drones have already become part of everyday life; in Japan, crop dusting has been carried out by drones for close to 20 years. Yet, it's currently illegal to fly drones commercially in U.S. airspace. Ellman wants to to change this.

"This is a new industry where there's so much creativity and potential, but there's a lack of good policy," Ellman says. "Many lawmakers assigned to this issue are not up to speed about what the technologies look like, what their use cases are and why anybody would be enthusiastic about drones."

Over the last five years, Ellman's become something of a drone expert. She's been working with the Federal Aviation Authority and other executive branch policymakers to craft policy documents that will soon be released by the government. Her ultimate goal is to create policy that makes good use of drones, but also wins the public's trust.

Her mission is not without its challenges. Drones may offer businesses and law enforcement extraordinary efficiency and life-saving benefits, but they also create uncharted territory regarding safety and privacy.

"There are lot complexities here," Ellman says. "My approach to balancing the opportunities and challenges presented by drones has been to bring innovators and policymakers -- communities that have very little in common -- together. Policymakers need to learn about the capabilities and risks of the technology and only innovators can provide that knowledge."

Should her strategy work, Ellman believes the sky is the limit when it comes to drone innovation. "The possible applications of drones are only limited by our imagination."

The Chinese e-commerce giant said it would test drone delivery in three Chinese cities, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, starting Wednesday. The test run, which enables 450 customers to receive one package of ginger tea via its Taobao.com platform, is in partnership with courier Shanghai YTO Express, which has long offered same-day delivery but never drone drop-offs.

Before the one-time drone tests the two companies downplayed the possibility of rapidly expanding drone delivery in statements. Like U.S. officials, Chinese regulators have been cautious about rapidly expanding drone capabilities in the country for reasons including security--China restricts the majority of its air space for military use, a frustrating truth for many private air travel companies looking to expand and take advantage of growing wealth in China.

However, the tests move Alibaba ahead of international rival Amazon.com AMZN in the race for ever-more improbable delivery options.

 
Watch more about companies testing drone deliveries from Fortune’s video team:

Two months after that brainstorming session, Amazon unveiled Prime. Customers who paid $79 annually would get "free" two-day delivery nationwide for an unlimited number of orders.

"Two-day shipping becomes an everyday experience rather than an occasional indulgence," Bezos wrote online in introducing the program.

Since its launch 10 years ago, Amazon Prime has irrevocably transformed shoppers’ expectations and, in turn, spearheaded an all-out arms race for faster shipping. Meanwhile Prime has evolved far beyond its simple roots into an all-inclusive package of streaming entertainment, e-book lending and exclusive access to a growing stable of Amazon-branded products like baby wipes.

Today, Amazon says Prime has "tens of millions of members" in the U.S., a typically opaque number from a company that hoards business metrics like state secrets. Analysts speculate there are between 40 and 50 million members worldwide.

Whatever the case, Prime has turned out to be a crucial tool for acquiring customers for Amazon, helping it become the dominant e-commerce company it is now and a threat to all retailers. If Amazon's cutthroat pricing reels in shoppers initially, Prime keeps them hooked.

It's also a strategy that has cost Amazon billions of dollars. On its own, fast shipping is a costly proposition, but factor in all those extras, and Prime quickly becomes a money pit.

The sales pitch for shoppers to join the program is compelling. Everyone from shopaholics to families who need to regularly stock up on clothes, books and gadgets can do so without worrying about how much all those orders cost to ship.

Amazon, in turn, gets loyal return customers. It also gets a more predictable and steady stream of revenue by selling those memberships much like Costco, the warehouse retailer.

"We really wanted to make it easy for customers -- the idea of, 'make the decision once, and then for the year, you don't have to think about it," says Greg Greeley, Amazon Prime’s vice president and one of the executives who attended that meeting in Bezos’ boathouse alongside Jeff Wilke, then senior vice president of customer service, and Chief Financial Officer Tom Szkutak.

Before Prime, most packages took a week or more to get from door-to-door. Anyone who wanted their orders quickly would have to pay FedEx or UPS big bucks or just have to wait. In some cases, that meant customers would end up visiting a local Wal-Mart or Target instead.

At the time, Amazon wasn’t exactly the big bruiser in e-commerce that it is now. Yes, it was big. But it still faced stiff competition from brick and mortar retailers. Executives also worried intensely about eBay. Although its auction business was already in decline, eBay had proven Amazon's fiercest competition since the late 1990s, when Amazon began branching out beyond books into sales of music, electronics and toys.

With Prime, Amazon did what it does best -- it expanded quickly and aggressively. Over the last 10 years, the number of available items through Prime grew from 1 million to 20 million. Prime also pushed into international markets: first to Japan, the UK and Germany, then France, Italy and Canada.

In 2011, Amazon added a Netflix-like video streaming service to the Prime package. Instant Video, as it was called then, rolled out with 5,000 movies and TV episodes, just a fraction of Netflix's catalog at the time. It was a move that surprised some pundits, who said it seemed like too much of a detour.

But Amazon’s Greeley argues that shipping and video streaming make sense together. If Prime members liked what they saw on Instant Video, they might buy digital movies and television shows ? la carte, and in turn, remain loyal shoppers, further fueling Amazon’s bottom line.

That's exactly what happened, according to Greeley. From 2011 to 2014, the number of Prime's subscribers soared, which Amazon largely attributes to the allure of video streaming.

Instant Video now has a catalog of 40,000-plus TV shows and movies from licensing deals with distributors such as Viacom and HBO. It also has a library from LoveFilm, a European DVD and movie streaming business that Amazon scooped up for nearly $317 million in 2008.

Hoping to make Prime Instant Video more compelling, Amazon began developing its own shows. In late 2010, it formed Amazon Studios, a Hollywood production arm that produces series and films from scripts submitted by the public through its website. Studios has produced just three pilots from that pipeline. Its biggest hits have been more standard Hollywood fare. The dark family comedy Transparent, with Arrested Development actor Jeffrey Tambor as a transgender parent, received two Golden Globe awards this year for best TV series and best actor.

Amazon would not say how many Prime members use its video streaming service. But according to a report from Sandvine, a company that makes networking equipment for Internet providers, Prime Instant Video remains a distant second to Netflix but continues to grow. From March 2013 to September 2014, its share of Internet traffic in North America during peak hours of 7 p.m. to 11 p.m more than doubled from 1.27% to 2.6%. That still pales in comparison to Netflix, which accounted for over one-third of web traffic during the same period.

"I think we could have moved more quickly to provide even better TV shows and movies," admits Michael Paull, a former Sony Music executive who now leads Amazon’s digital video efforts.

Which is why Amazon funneled $1.3 billion into Prime Instant Video in 2014. In January, the company followed up by saying it would produce 12 movies this year and signed Woody Allen to direct his first TV series exclusively for Prime Instant Video in 2016.

Amazon sweetened the pot for Prime users in other areas, too. Members get access to a digital library of over 600,000 e-books for no additional cost, unlimited photo storage and a music streaming service that rivals the Swedish startup Spotify. In November, Amazon released its first original album on the service, a 43-track digital compilation of holiday songs.

In another new twist for Prime, Amazon introduced a line of household products in December. For now, the options are limited to just baby wipes. A line of diapers was recently pulled from sale after customers complained about their design. The idea is to push products that people buy repeatedly and are therefore all the more attractive with free shipping.

"What distinguishes Mom members is that they are amongst the most active Prime customers -- they are very engaged," said Doug Herrington, vice president of Amazon Consumables, a business group that encompasses the groceries, health & beauty, pets and baby product areas.

Because Amazon does not typically disclose data about Prime, it’s unclear how frequently shoppers use the service. But what is clear is that Prime members spend significantly more than more casual Amazon shoppers, according to RBC Capital Markets. Prime members said they spent an average of $538 annually with Amazon, far more than the $320 by non-Prime members.

Also nearly certain: Prime costs Amazon dearly. Greeley declined to disclose specifics, but he suggested as much in an interview. "When you look back, the program was launched in 2005 at $79," he said. "You factor in just simple inflation, transportation and fuel costs, the price would be over $100 today, in just 2005 dollars." Translation: Prime doesn't pay for itself.

Indeed, Forrester analyst Sucharita Mulpuru estimates that Amazon loses at least $1 billion annually on Prime-related shipping expenses. It’s a staggering cost that pushed Amazon to hike the price for Prime by $20 to $99 in April.

“On the one hand, Prime adds to their bottom line, but it’s like a leech that sucks their blood,” says Mulpuru. “When they throw in things like lending library and streaming, it just gets more and more expensive for them.”

If Amazon has been consistent in the two decades or so since Bezos founded it in his Bellevue, Wash. garage, it’s that the company is ready to accept razor-thin profit margins -- or outright losses, in some cases -- to fuel rapid growth. And until last year, many investors seemed perfectly happy with that strategy.

But 2014 proved to be challenging for Amazon. Growth of Web Services, Amazon’s data center business, slowed for the first time since it opened in 2006. And the company’s first smartphone, the Fire Phone, quickly flopped because of its high price and a crowded market. Shortly after introducing the phone, Amazon wrote off $170 million in losses, of which nearly half came from unsold phones collecting dust somewhere. Amazon shares AMZN tumbled over 23% for the year, as a result.

There are also questions about just how many people pay for Prime. According to a Forrester Research survey of Prime users, about one-third of respondents reported they were currently using Prime via 30-day free trials. The findings open the door to criticism that the numbers are inflated. But Greeley dismisses any such suggestion, and says, if anything, he wished Amazon had offered free trials to shoppers sooner.

“One of our learnings, giving access to our customers to a 30-day free trial and basically letting them sample the buffet before they pay for it, has been a really good way for customers to learn about Prime,” he said.

Competition among retailers to build customer loyalty through shipping programs is intense. For example, ShopRunner, a startup that offers two-day delivery from partner retailers like Brooks Brothers and Toys R Us, charges $8.95 a month.

Then there are services like Google Express and Postmates, which aggressively push same-day delivery. For a small fee, couriers pick up your orders from bricks and mortar stores and deliver them to your doorstep in as little as one hour. (Google Express also offers a Prime-like annual membership.)

Amazon has responded by adding same-day shipping to Prime. For an additional fee, members can request same-day shipping in 12 U.S. markets and one-hour delivery in New York City (more cities are planned later this year). And if Bezos is to be believed, orders could one day arrive even sooner -- 30 minutes or less -- via drone if they clear regulatory hurdles. Good luck with that.

Greeley dismissed concerns over Prime’s profitability and Amazon’s fluctuating stock price. Believe it or not, he says he's more focused on satisfying customers with unique Prime offerings like the digital series Transparent and adding features to services, including the unlimited photo storage service, Prime Photo. And like Bezos, he's looking for ways to make the shipping speedier.

Of course, such investments -- the original content, the shipping experiments, the foray into Amazon-branded goods -- means Prime won't become profitable any time soon. But it is growing: in Amazon's most recent earnings report, Bezos said the number of paying Prime members spiked 53% last year.

In explaining, Greeley refers back to the letter Bezos wrote to shareholders in prelude to Amazon’s initial public offering in 1997. In it, Bezos said he would work on building long-term shareholder value through big bets and innovation.

"The beauty of Amazon's strategy is it hasn't changed," Greeley. "The strategy around Prime hasn't changed. We're constantly innovating on behalf of our customers." Indeed, it's a strategy Greeley maintains will "bring long-term shareholder value."

Some shareholders might grumble otherwise, but Bezos himself couldn’t have said it better.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a warning Wednesday to remind fans of both football and unmanned aircraft that the Super Bowl is “strictly a ‘no drone zone.'” It is illegal to fly unauthorized aircraft, such as a drone, over or near any NFL games, not just Sunday’s championship game, according to the FAA. The same restriction also applies Major League Baseball games, several Nascar events and any college sporting event taking place in a stadium that seats at least 30,000 fans.

Anyone caught breaking this rule could be detained by law enforcement and wind up facing jail time as well as a possible civil penalty for “careless and reckless” operation of an aircraft.

Says the FAA: “Bottom line: If you want to see video of the Big Game, watch it on TV. Leave your drone at home.”

The government’s stern warning for drone enthusiasts near Glendale, Ariz. (where the Super Bowl will be played at University of Phoenix Stadium) comes just a couple of days after an off-duty intelligence agency official crashed a recreational drone -- while drunk, apparently -- on the White House lawn. The crash prompted President Obama to call for stricter regulation of domestic drone use while The Wall Street Journal reported that drone-maker DJII will start disabling its drones’ ability to fly over the Washington, D.C. area.

By Dan Kedmey, TIME

Drone manufacturer DJI will disable all of its devices within a 15.5-mile radius of downtown Washington D.C., following the crash landing of one of its drones in the White House compound on Monday.

The company said it would release what it called a mandatory update for its drone operating system in the coming days. The update would automatically disable drone flights over Washington D.C. and fence off no-fly zones around more than 10,000 airports across the country. However, owners of most DJI drones won't be forced to download the update -- those who choose not to install it would just miss out on new features down the road.

"We are pushing this out a bit earlier to lead in encouraging responsible flight," said DJI spokesperson Michael Perry. "With the unmanned aerial systems community growing on a daily basis, we feel it is important to provide pilots additional tools to help them fly safely and responsibly."

A Secret Service officer "heard and observed" a drone believed to be a DJI Phantom flying at a low altitude early Monday morning, before it crashed on the southeast side of the White House. The pilot, a government employee, had reportedly been drinking.

By Victor Luckerson, TIME

President Barack Obama has used the crash-landing of a drone at the White House Monday as an opportunity to reemphasize the importance of regulating unmanned aircraft.

In an interview with CNN, Obama said the remote-controlled quadcopter that caused a brief security scare on Monday was the kind "you buy in Radio Shack," calling for a regulatory framework for drones that will "get the good and minimize the bad."

"There are incredibly useful functions that these drones can play in terms of farmers who are managing crops and conservationists who want to take stock of wildlife," Obama said. "But we don't really have any kind of regulatory structure at all for it."

Drones are currently restricted from most airspace, except at low heights and at designated testing sites. The capital has stricter regulations than most on flying unmanned aerial vehicles.

The Federal Aviation Administration is currently drafting regulations that will allow for wider use of the devices. However, the process has been fraught with delays.

[CNN]

The UAS Fund, a $2.2 billion private-sector investment pool incorporated last year by NEXA Capital Partners in Washington D.C., has filed a formal rule-making proposal with the FAA supplying a proposed regulation governing the use of extremely small drones weighing less than three pounds. The idea? While the FAA remains bogged down in the complexities inherent in making America's airspace safe for drones of all sizes, allow so-called "micro unmanned aircraft"--mUA for short--to begin flying in a commercial capacity in the near term. Doing so is relatively risk-free, UAS Fund representatives say, and would allow the unmanned systems industry to unleash the myriad benefits of drones on U.S. business. It would also set in motion the billions of dollars in economic impact that drones are expected to deliver when they are finally cleared for commercial use.

"Our view is that our micro unmanned aircraft rule is a no-brainer from an economic development perspective because it can be immediately implemented and start unlocking economic benefits today," says UAS Fund president Matthew Bieschke. "Moving away from the burdensome process that's in place right now will allow some of the economic benefits to be realized today, long before the small UAS rule gets worked out."

The "small UAS rule" currently under development by the FAA would apply to all drones weighing 55 pounds or less, regardless of size, application, or type of aircraft. A draft version of these regulations was supposed to be handed down by the end of 2014 and a final set of rules put in place by the end of 2015. But by their own admission, regulators have had a hard time developing a set of regulations that reasonably apply across all sizes and classes of unmanned aircraft.

As a result, the FAA's blanket ban on commercial drone use remains in effect, the only exceptions being a few companies that have managed to secure exemptions from the FAA through a lengthy application process. Last week the FAA granted two more exemptions, one to a precision agriculture company and the other to a real estate firm, bringing the total number of companies allowed to use drones for commercial purposes to 13. (More than 200 applications are pending.) The proposed mUA rule would create a general regulation that would allow anyone to commercially operate drones weighing less than three pounds without securing an application-specific exemption from the FAA.

The proposed rule also reflects the a growing sentiment among drone advocates in and outside the industry that regulating a two-pound, battery-powered quadrotor and a 50-pound, gas-powered behemoth in the same way is not only nonsensical, but quite difficult for the FAA to do in a manner that's not burdensome for both businesses and authorities.

"We don't think starting with a 55-pound rule is the way to go," Bieschke says. "We think the best way to do this is to start with this category first and then build on that. We need to start somewhere. We need to crawl before we walk, and walk before we run."

The mUA rule proposal argues that allowing drones three-pounds and lighter into the airspace first makes sense because according to the FAA's own data, objects of that size pose no threat to manned aviation. The mUA proposal comes complete with a safety study compiled by a third-party engineering firm based largely upon FAA on bird strikes within the general aviation industry. While data concerning actual collisions between manned aircraft and drones is virtually nonexistent, the study concludes that in the last 25 years there have been no injuries or deaths resulting from manned aircraft colliding with small- or medium-sized birds (those weighing less than 3.8 pounds) despite the presence of 10 billion birds in U.S. skies.

Therefore, the study concludes, mUA operated by experienced pilots in accordance with existing drone regulations--which dictate that unmanned aircraft operate below a ceiling of 400 feet and at least five miles away from airports--pose no threat to manned aviation. Nor should they pose an unreasonable threat to persons on the ground. And with safety concerns put to rest, there's no reason to prohibit companies from taking advantage of the valuable data and imagery that even this smallest class of drones can provide.

For the drone industry and companies anxious to integrate drones into their operations, the proposed mUA rule provides something else that could be far more important in the long term: a foot in the door. The proposed mUA rule isn't designed to be a "one-and-done" solution, Bieschke says, but the first step toward creating smart and safe regulations around larger classes of unmanned aircraft. "We personally--the UAS Fund--don't really have a lot to gain from a three-pound rule," he says. "We just want to promote commercialization here, to jump-start the industry and get us moving in the right direction here in the United States rather than sit here and watch all these companies go overseas or to Canada."

Trimble Navigation Ltd, VDOS Global LLC, Clayco Inc and Woolpert Inc said in their petitions to the FAA that they would operate drones weighing less than 55 pounds (25 kg) and keep them within view at all times.

The approvals broaden the uses of commercial drones to include aerial surveying, construction site monitoring and oil rig flare stack inspections. Previous FAA exemptions were for aerial photography by seven television and film companies.

The FAA is expected to release a draft rule on drones by the end of December. The latest approvals came as the FAA and other industry officials were questioned by Congress on Wednesday about the safety and benefits of drone use.

The FAA has been under mounting pressure from companies seeking to employ drones to survey crops, inspect remote power lines and pipelines or deliver packages, or other uses.

The U.S. drone industry is expected to generate $13.6 billion in economic activity and create 70,000 jobs in the three years after commercial use restrictions are lifted, according to the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.

The FAA bans most commercial drone flights, but is required by Congress to integrate drones into the U.S. airspace by September 2015.

Capt. Lee Moak, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, brought a small quad-copter to a House aviation subcommittee hearing on Wednesday that he noted was capable of flying at 6,600 feet for 15 minutes.

“That means it could easily end up in the same airspace I occupy when I am on approach to land at Newark,Seattle, or any other airport,” he said, noting increased reports of drone sightings by pilots.

He urged the FAA not to allow pressure to rapidly integrate drones into the national airspace and compromise safety.

But others pressed for much more rapid FAA action. Rep. Roger Williams, a Texas Republican, said Amazon.com has had difficulty getting FAA permission for outdoor tests of package delivery in Washington state. Amazon told the FAA this week it has begun testing outside the United States because of the restrictions.

The FAA’s associate safety administrator, Peggy Gilligan, said the agency knows Amazon is unsatisfied and expects to “reach some conclusions shortly” on its application for an exemption.

By Kate Taylor, Entrepreneur.com

We should have known that the mixture of mistletoe, drones and $10 endless appetizers would only lead to bloodshed.

A TGI Friday’s mistletoe drone wreaked havoc at a Brooklyn, N.Y., restaurant last Thursday when the drone accidently slammed into a photographer’s face.

The incident began when a drone operator attempted to land the drone on a reporter’s hand, according to the Brooklyn Daily. The reporter flinched, sending the drone careening into the face of Georgine Benvenuto, a photographer who was there to take photos for the Brooklyn Daily. The mistletoe then apparently became caught in Benvenuto’s hair, causing further damage to her nose and chin as the drone’s blades continued to spin.

“I have covered active crime scenes, terrorist strikes, etc. and survived them all, unscathed,” Benvenuto, who walked away with a bloodied nose and chin, wrote on her Facebook page. “The most dangerous assignment to date was covering this drone story.”

“This was an isolated event during a demonstration for the reporter and photographer only, given by the licensed operator of the drone during the last day of this particular promotion,” TGI Friday’s said in a statement to Entrepreneur. “Of course, safety is our first priority and we are sorry that this isolated incident occurred.”

The restaurant industry’s drone drama is likely only beginning. Companies from grilled cheese maker Jafflechutes to Lakemaid brewery have experimented with drones, primarily for deliveries. Now that mistletoe drones have revealed a new festive and destructive way for restaurants to use the flying contraptions, who knows what else foodie drones are capable of?

Related from Entrepreneur:

TGI Fridays Is Putting ‘Mistletoe Drones’ in Restaurants

Inside the Semi-Secret Meeting That’s Reshaping America’s Drone Industry

Smart Retailers Know There Is Plenty of Action After the Holidays

The U.S. online retailer has already started conducting outdoor tests “in other countries with regulatory environments more supportive of small (unmanned aircraft systems) innovation,” according to the letter written by Amazon vice president of global public policy Paul Misener.

Amazon says outdoor testing is crucial to developing its “Prime Air” program, which aims to use drones – small unmanned aircraft – to deliver packages in 30 minutes or less. It said it preferred to keep that testing within theUnited States.

In July, Amazon sought permission from the FAA to test drones in outdoor areas near Seattle, where one of its research and development labs is working on the technology, but the FAA has been slow to give its approval.

“Without approval of our testing in the United States, we will be forced to continue expanding our Prime Air R&D footprint abroad,” Misener wrote in the letter, first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Drones are among several initiatives underway at Amazon to help control rising shipping costs and compete with brick-and-mortar stores by delivering items quickly. Amazon said there were dozens of U.S. job openings for its Prime Air division for hardware engineers and research scientists.

Last year, the U.S. government created six sites for companies, universities and others to test drones for broader commercial use. The area near Seattle where Amazon wants to conduct its tests is not among those sites, and Amazon said it would be impractical for “it to pursue the test sites as our sole method of testing at this time.”

Jenkins is a well-known personality in the aerospace and aviation realms. He's been in the room for more or less every major airline merger and bankruptcy restructuring over the past few decades. He's spent his career lecturing to and on the aerospace industry, having taught for several semesters at George Washington University while publishing countless papers and research reports as well as one book on the industry. He's the guy that goes on Bloomberg TV and CNBC to explain these things to the world. Jenkins knows a whole lot of influential people in the aviation and aerospace worlds. A lot of those people are here at Robofest today. They, like Jenkins, share a keen interest in the next generation of aerospace technology--the various unmanned aerial systems commonly and collectively known as drones.

It’s a pitch-perfect afternoon in late October when Robofest takes place. The setting is Jenkins’ secluded home in the Shenandoah foothills. This year’s event is the second in two years, already known as an off-the-record social date that is evolving into an industry movement that Jenkins hopes will pave the way forward for the burgeoning commercial drone industry. (Fortune obtained special permission to write about the event.) On the agenda: An open discussion on how to best move the industry forward, and--of course--a bit of drone flying. But first, there's wine and then lunch. No one wants to reshape an entire industry on an empty stomach.

Last year's Robofest was mostly a recreational and social affair, Jenkins says. This year--with some of the more influential minds within the industry, state and federal government, and academia all gathered on his back patio--Jenkins wants to do more than just talk about what can be done. The drone industry largely sees itself as hamstrung by an overreaching and underfunded Federal Aviation Administration. The industry believes it is increasingly outgunned by foreign competitors operating in more permissive regulatory environments. Jenkins and his assembled cast of industry veterans, lawyers, entrepreneurs, lobbyists, and government insiders want to change that.

"When I think about all the airline mergers and bankruptcies I've been through with this industry, I feel like an old man," Jenkins says, calling his 80 or so guests to order. "When I think about UAS technology, I'm 16 again." As his guests finish tucking into plates of fried chicken and pasta salad, Jenkins reminds his guests that the point of this gathering is not to sit around throwing rocks at the FAA, an activity that has become an organized sport for advocates of a commercialized drone industry. Today is about hammering out some concrete steps that the industry can take in the near term. It’s about keeping the industry marching forward despite bureaucratic inertia.

Jenkins turns the floor over to his keynote speaker, the former CEO of a major Fortune 500 aerospace and defense company and vocal supporter of the drone industry. His comments set off a spirited discussion about what the industry needs, how it can nudge the FAA in the right direction, and--most importantly--what the industry can do on its own without help from the FAA. (The theme of this year's Robofest: "Doing it Ourselves.")

No single voice or interest dominates the discussion. Among those that speak up are academics, former FAA officials, aerospace industry executives, drone entrepreneurs looking to build new companies around UAS technologies and services, local law enforcement, and U.S. intelligence employees. One is a lawyer who specializes in the nascent new practice of drone law. Another represents the newly formed D.C. drone lobby backed by Google GOOG and Amazon AMZN . There are even realtors interested in using drones for aerial photography, which is currently prohibited by the FAA, and a sailing coach interested in applying drones to maritime sport.

Above all, there is money present. Representatives of a $2.2 billion investment fund aimed specifically at drone infrastructure--such as air traffic control technologies to allow drones to safely operate alongside conventional aircraft in U.S. airspace--weigh in during the discussion. For more than an hour the discussion ping-pongs around Jenkins' crowded, sun-dappled patio.

There is disagreement but also plenty of consensus. The large drone industry is well represented on Capitol Hill through the defense and aerospace industries, but the small UAS industry--representing aircraft that weigh less than 55 lbs.--needs to better organize and represent itself, the group agrees. Small UAS need size-specific regulations so that a five-pound drone flying at 300 feet is treated differently than a large drone. And most of all, the industry needs to work with the FAA, rather than rail against it--otherwise, little progress will occur.

Jenkins closes the discussion by informing his guests that this will be the last Robofest held at his home. Though it’s only the second such event, it's already straining the capacity of his generous patio space. Jenkins says he’s working with universities in the D.C. area to formalize and host the next event sometime in early 2016. The plan: bring today’s agenda to a much larger audience. It would be a mistake to wait any longer, he says.

"We're at an inflection point," says one self-described serial entrepreneur who launched and sold four technology companies. He's traveled to Robofest from Michigan to hear what others in the industry have to say and for the chance to swap business cards and make a few new contacts in the industry. Naturally, his latest startup is a drone company, one that would provide drone products and services as well as training and certification for pilots--as soon as standards for such certification are codified by the FAA, that is. "There's still a lot of uncertainty," he says. "But the time for this industry is now."

The sun is getting low now and the breeze has died down--it’s finally time to fly. From car trunks and duffel bags and hard plastic carrying cases, out come the drones--from small quad-rotors to massive eight-armed octo-copters in varying shapes and sizes. The entire gathering looks on as one machine after another rises into the sky. In minutes, everyone is 16 again.

The multi-rotor helicopters, priced between $500 and $1,000, will go on sale late next year, the Journal said.

GoPro was not immediately available for comment.

The company already provides the cameras used in many drones.

Such limiting regulations would preclude drone use for highly-touted applications like pipeline inspection and large-scale crop monitoring. Beyond that, last week's ruling in favor of the FAA means that drones of all sizes will be covered under the regulations. Photography drones weighing less than five pounds, such as the now ubiquitous DJI Phantom series quadrotor, will likely be regulated the same way as much larger, gas-powered drones like Boeing's 40-pound ScanEagle, which is used by militaries and private industry for sophisticated missions.

The news is a setback for those hoping that, based on a prior NTSB ruling finding against the FAA, small drones weighing less than 10 lbs. (including DJI's Phantom and 3D Robotics IRIS) would not be held to the same standards as other aircraft the FAA regulates.

The idea that small drones might not be regulated as "aircraft" by FAA definition stems from a case in which a drone operator named Raphael Pirker was fined $10,000 by the FAA for using a small, styrofoam drone to gather footage for a University of Virginia Medical School advertisement, a service for which he charged a fee. While the transaction ran afoul of the FAA's near-universal ban on using drones for commercial gain in the U.S., the FAA chose to cite Pirker for flying recklessly. An NTSB judge threw out the case in March on grounds that the FAA had not previously regulated model RC aircraft like the one flown by Pirker and had no grounds to do so now. Pirker's flight also took place before the passing of the 2012 FAA reauthorization bill by Congress, which mandated the FAA to safely integrate unmanned aircraft into the national airspace. (A draft rule on more sweeping drone regulations is expected before the end of the year.)

The Pirker ruling led many to believe that small drones wouldn't be regulated the same way as larger small drones--unmanned aerial systems typically defined as those weighing less than 55 pounds. But the FAA has since taken action to clarify its own rules toward small drones, and last week's overturning of the Pirker decision further solidifies is position as the authority that will regulate all unmanned aerial systems as the commercial drone industry attempts to take off. It's also another shot across the bow to those attempting to fly under the FAA's radar as they use drones to commercial ends.

"A lot of people like to insinuate that there's a grey area with the law: 'What I'm doing doesn't break any FAA rules because I'm not charging for my flight,'" says Patrick Egan, an editor at sUAS News and drone industry advocate. "These are the shadows that people like to hide in. With the NTSB ruling, the gray areas had some light thrown on them."

Coupled with the rumors trickling out of the government concerning the proposed regulations, the ruling has proven troubling for many in the industry. Those who thought that small UAS might not be regulated by the FAA, or that they would be regulated different from larger, more complicated, and potentially more dangerous drones are facing a regulatory future in which very small drones and larger drones are treated alike.

"Where do you draw the line in terms of which UAS are regulated and which are not?" says John McGraw, an aerospace industry consultant and former FAA flight standards official. "The NTSB hasn't said, but it has affirmed that the FAA has pretty broad authority to draw that line."

But such rules would also likely require a change in FAA structure and mission, which could be difficult given the agency's current funding and manpower.

"After rules are issued, people are going to gravitate toward compliance with the law," Egan says. "They'll want to build businesses. But the FAA has a problem right now. It's a double-edged sword with the NTSB ruling. You want to regulate toys? Well, now you're regulating toys. If that's going to be your deal, you're going to have to evolve into being some kind of consumer safety organization and get down to the Toys ‘R’ Us level. I don't know how they're going to do that."

Of course, the NTSB ruling doesn't require the FAA to regulate every single aircraft, large or small, that takes to the airspace. However, it does give the agency the leeway to do so. If the proposed rules that leaked to the Journal this weekend are in fact a real barometer of the agency's thinking, it suggests that the FAA will indeed have the power to regulate small drones the same as large ones and may do so. But how that will carry through to the practice of enforcement is yet another matter for the FAA to determine, and in that light the NTSB decision could have more symbolic than practical impact.

"[The ruling] just reaffirms what the FAA thinks was its authority all along," McGraw says. "It's not a shift in position for them. And it's not their intent to regulate paper airplanes."

Happy Monday. It’s a holiday-shortened Thanksgiving week, but there’s still plenty of news happening. Today, markets are up in Europe and Asia, and U.S. stocks look set to move higher as they come off five straight weeks of gains. We’ve also got news of a possible collaboration between upstart Tesla and one of the automotive old guard. Here’s what else you need to know about.

1. Time is running out for an Iran deal

With a deadline set to expire today, it looks unlikely that negotiators will reach an accord on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the BBC reports. This would mean that talks would break off until December. In recent days, there has been some skepticism that a deal could be approved by legislators in Tehran and Washington, even if negotiators reach some accord.

2. Watch out, amateur drone operators

New federal rules on commercial drones are expected to require operators to hold a license, limit flights to daylight hours, fly below 400 feet and within sight of the person at the controls, according to The Wall Street Journal.

3. Tesla cozies up to BMW

Elon Musk told a German auto magazine that his electric car manufacturer Tesla TSLA is talking to BMW about collaborating on batteries and parts. Though the talks are said to be informal, its always interesting to see famed “disrupter” Musk working with part of the auto industry elite.

4. Samsung shakeup

According to The Wall Street Journal, beleaguered tech company Samsung is considering making some changes to leadership. This could mean shifting current co-CEO and mobile division leaders J.K. Shin out of both roles. The Korean company’s smartphone business has been badly hurt in recent years.

5. May the box office be ever in your favor

“Mockingjay -- Part 1,” the latest installment of the Hunger Games movie series, was released this weekend and brought in $124 million, this biggest opening weekend of the year. This hasn’t been a great year for the film industry, with the Jennifer Lawrence-led dystopia being one of the few bright spots.