The Federal Aviation Administration released a statement outlining a plan to create six test sites for unmanned aircraft in U.S. skies. The statement outlines the FAA's site selection process and offers details of its privacy policy.

Operators of potential test sites are invited to submit an application to the FAA, which will be judged in part on criteria developed during two public webinars held in April 2012, taking into account "geographic and climatic diversity." 

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The statement emphasizes the FAA's efforts to enforce privacy and its intention to "help inform the dialogue among policymakers, privacy advocates, and the industry regarding broader questions concerning the use of [Unmanned Aircraft System] technologies."

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"States across the country have been eager to receive this FAA designation because they recognize the incredible economic and job creation potential it would bring with it," according to Michael Toscano, president of the Assocation for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.

Read more on the FAA's statement at the Washington Post.

See Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu's letter to the New York Times entitled "Drones, Kill Lists and Machiavelli."

Read an op-ed in the New York Times encouraging the use of drones to protect civilians in Syria entitled "Drones for Human Rights."

Read more about drones here.

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