>I think the idea is simply to help ordinary fliers to avoid inadvertently flying in controlled airspace - but all models I've seen can simply be flown in 'manual' mode by switching of the GPS guidance. I don't think it would be simple to bypass the guidance system in other ways - on most models all of the navigation logic is integrated into the main control board. Best bet would be to hack the update code to remove some of the no-fly zones. Also occurs to me that they're going to need quite a bit of ROM if they are going to include co-ordinates for all for the worlds controlled airspace :-}

Need a map of such installations? Buy one of these and hack it out.

>My guess is that we will see a lot more regulation applied to larger devices.

Waiting for the first one to end up in a jet engine and the interesting lawsuit in the making...