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Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail, blogger, and editor-in-chief of Wired, has a hobby that has confronted him with a dilemma. Anderson builds unmanned aerial vehicles — also known as UAVs or "drones" — and runs a UAV social network on Ning called DIYDrones.com. On that site, he shares his expertise in open-source fashion. Recently, Amir Aalipour, a resident of Tehran, proudly posted photos of his UAV sporting the Iranian flag that he built by following sources like DIYDrones.com. This alarmed and frightened the Wired editor. His knee-jerk reaction was not to seal up the windows with duct tape because a cloud of radioactive dust is going to descend from the jihadist's radio-controlled airplane and kill us all. No, Anderson's knee-jerk reaction was, instead, to worry that others would have that knee-jerk reaction, and put his hobby out of business.


To be fair, Anderson has reason to worry about perceptions of his hobby. On the one hand, hobbyists' UAVs are slightly more sophisticated versions of radio-controlled airplanes. On the other hand, spy agencies and the military use even more sophisticated versions as surveillance and weapon-delivery systems. While there are perfectly legitimate hobbyist and commercial uses (GPS mapping, aerial photography, etc.), when you see a "drone," instinctively, the average American thinks of a weapon.

Anderson has largely acted appropriately: reserving judgment, asking difficult questions, and allowing debate to ensue on his blog. The majority of commenters, and Anderson himself, initially, voiced support of open-source principles and argued that the information is already available and should remain open to anyone despite Anderson's fears of xenophobic doubt. Others agree but still worry that the U.S. government may take a homeland-security interest in DIYDrones.com's uses, and its users. Few are concerned about aiding the enemy, but realize the public at large could respond histrionically.

And it turns out that the fuss is about a 17-year-old enthusiast. Aalipour, like many Iranians, is strongly nationalistic but, in a comment left on Anderson's blog, claims progressive political views with no anti-American sentiments. "I love friendly," he writes. Well, who doesn't? Can't we all get along — unmanned drone-lovers included?