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this is the 900-page document we call obamacare. it could change costs, coverage, and pretty much all of

healthcare in america. my show sorts this all out. in fact, my staff has read the entire thing. which is probably more than what most members of congress can claim. we'll separate politics from policy, and just prescribe the facts.

♪ welcome back. in that was the view from a private drone that monitors power lines. now we're talking about the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in the u.s. and how much they should be regulated. before the break we asked you if law enforcement should be able to use drones and where the lawn should be drawn. response? >> a lot of suspicion.

expensive. >> exactly. >> trevor first your organization obtained a list from customs and border protection about how many times it flew predator surveillance drones on behalf of other agencies. talk about what you found, and what that really means? >> yes, as i was saying before the break, customs and border protection as about ten surveillance drones. but when they are not using them they lend them out to law enforcement agencies. and the justice department said they only used these drones two times. when we got our request back, it turned out they are used them over a hundred times.

and this is the same pattern we have been seeing over and over again with the federal government is they refuse to release accurate information of who is flying drones in this country and what they have been used for. we had to you under the freedom of information act to find information out, and now when they release the information it is obviously months old, rather than posting it on a public websites like they should. >> what do you think the issue is? that u.s. border patrol and customs loaned these uav's to other agencies, were these other agencies not allowed to use them? what would be the purpose of not disclosing the agency's uses? >> that's a great question. i'm not sure why they would not want to expose it besides having the public find out and be worried about it. none of these agencies have privacy policies.

we don't know how long they keep the footage? do they hand it on to other agencies? are they looking for other things besides wanted criminals which they have a probable cause warrant for? these are all questions that the american people deserve answers for before they start using these drones regularly. >> pierre i want you to jump in here and react to what is being said, and then also, do you think lines need to be drawn a little more distinctly. >> sure, i think first off, just because someone doesn't release information to me, doesn't necessarily mean they are trying to hide it. so i applaud treasure and his organization for seeking transparency. i have no issues with that. where we draw the line is going to boil down to number one whether we think drones require warrants. and then the second line is

whether we're going to restrict different purposes, so if one of your viewers, steve wants to use it to look at animal rights is that something we're going to allow, versus whether someone uses it to look in your backyard to determine whether you are smoking marijuana. >> michael just tweeted in . . . and the line lisa you mentioned, he said is too thin. tom says . . . that? >> i think one of the big things that the faa is going to do -- what the faa wants to do

is safely integrate uas's into our air space system, but they also want to create rules and regulation that govern when they can fly, how high they can fly, and what type of activity they will do. one of the things they will do in the next five, six, ten years, will be just what they did in regular aviation. right now there are no rules, but it will come to an end once we have the integration of these uas's with the faa authority over them. >> steve you want to weigh in here? >> well, this is an incredible technology that the rest of the world is going to embrace it. we certainly should too. there are so many fantastic positives to it, that it's only the flat-earth society that is going to ignore it.

now this is where the electronic freedom foundation comes in. for somebody to just say i'm afraid of a drone, that's not a good reason. there are people who are afraid of automobiles and airplanes and so own and so on. this is a fantastic organization, we have worked with them. they are bringing up some of the real concerns that every american should want to know more about, and frankly, i think the faa is probably going to do the best job that they can. this is something new, so we're going to grow into it, like we have grown into the internet and every other technology that has been developed. this is nothing to be afraid of. this is something to look at the issues that pop up and simply deal with them in a responsible manner that protexts people's privacy. we have satellites taking pictures of the world every day.

so to pretend that somebody doesn't have accessible to you in your backyard -- but nobody really cares. there are billions of us on this planet, and for people to be afraid of this technology, just -- seems very childish to me. deal with the real issues. >> they are trying to deal with real issues across the country now in legislature after legislature. but drone strikes laws differ from state to state. and that is creating issues. what is the best legislation? regional or consistent on a federal level. think about that, and we'll talk about it after the break.

millions who need assistance now. we appreciate you spending time with us tonight. up next is the golden age of hollywood going golden but elsewhere. why l.a.'s mayor has declared a state of emergency for the entertainment industry there. next.

againet again againet -- genetisist, and i in "the stream."

>> before the break you wanted to respond to something steve was talking about in terms of embracing this new technology. >> yes, i think steve made an excellent point when he said we really have to embrace this new technology. because i think this is probably one of the most important innovation advances in aviation since the wright brothers. look back just a little over a hundred years ago, and we're standing in kitty hawk in north carolina and watching the first human flight and we're all standing there wondering whether this will be an important advancement in our society. and this is basically where we are right now with these usa's. they are going to make a major impact, and we like, steve said, have to embrace it. >> pierre so many states have pending legislation. none of it looks alike. what sort of legislation in

terms of the level at which it has to occur is going to best americans? >> i think this is best served at a federal level. a lot of the privacy concerns are based off of the constitution, and that is best served at the federal level. it's understandable that states are going to have to take action, but there needs to be an overall framework. right now states are doing their own thing, and the federal government is silent for the most part. but this has to be handled at a federal level and states can fill in the blank. >> one of the concerns is safety -- >> like crashing. >> right. we have this great comment by melissa cummings. give her a listen. >> brown loses its communication link, this drone will have to be

able to successfully land itself safely and not come into any contact with humans for it to be in wide-spread settings. so to do that you have to have live automation, unfortunately it turns into a distraction problem, in that as soon as you put enough automation on board an aircraft to keep it safe then people start to get board, and you see things like texting, sleeping, like in airline cockpits where it is difficult for pilots, the same issue will come up with drone pilots. that?

>> i think we definitely have to look at safety concerns. not only are these things very light, but a lot of the smaller drones are easily hackable. so that's actually what i'm talking about at the new york drone conference next week is all of the ways these can be hacked. but i want to go back to what one of the other states said about embracing this technology. nobody is talk about total ban on these drones. we want some regulation to law enforcement don't scoop up ordinary citizens in the surveillance net. but also a lot of the activities have to stay legal. putting privacy rules in place can help these types of activities because that means that we will kind of get rid of this problem for all of these states. i think a lot of drone makers

are caught in this uncertainty period, and once we have privacy rules in place, 95% will be able to go forward as planned. >> we have another video comment from melissa cummings about that conference. can the use of drones keep pace with the technology? >> i think it can. we talk about the technology as steve said and said this is cutting edge. but some of the images are second and third generation compared to what the military already has. so look at what is already possible. and we know what is possible through the military in terms of the predator and things like that. so we can base our legislation off of the most advanced technology, and that's how we

should be legislationing. >> trevor you want to weigh in on that? >> i agree. this technology is moving extremely fast. the amount of time drones can stay in the air is expanding exponentially. >> the technology is advancing so quickly. i want to say thanks to all of our guests. we're out of time, thank you so much. what incredibly diverse voices on the show tonight. i love the discussion. until tomorrow go to there. ♪

welcome to al jazeera america. i'm bill walters. these are the stories we are fowling for you. one hour from now the president is to speak on the battle of the brnlg. >> protesters are going on in besigh. they are trying to get congress to pass legislation reform. the wa war of words over the debt dreel ceiling and the weekd government shutdown e