Old-school journalists used typewriters and flash-bulb cameras. North Carolina content creator Michael Jones gathers information with drones. He follows all privacy and safety laws, but unless the Supreme Court intervenes, state regulators stuck in the past will shut him down.
In his petition for review, filed September 9, Jones seeks First Amendment protection for his work. The underlying question is urgent: What counts as speech in the digital age as technology advances from moveable type to thermal-sensor quadcopters and next-generation tools not yet invented?
