Many governments are risk averse. They fear public opinion and the easiest path is to say no to new technology. Drones fit this nicely since there will always be an element of our communities against something new.
FYI, another battle looming is the use of facial recognition technology. it has many applications in the business world and I see it coming to the fore very soon, unless government shuts it down by being short sighted.
I've mentioned the movie Minority Report before. It was released in 2002 and I've found it interesting to see how some of the future technologies featured in the film are becoming reality. The summary in Wikipedia even alludes to this fact with this quote, "Spielberg consulted numerous scientists in an attempt to present a more plausible future world than that seen in other science fiction films, and some of the technology designs in the film have proven prescient."
My Wall Street Journal researcher, Steve Myers shared the link above.
