Drone law raises new questions about privacy
New law opens U.S. skies to drones for commercial and police surveillance.
Businesses, and drone manufacturers especially, are celebrating a new federal law that opens the skies to unmanned aerial vehicles.
Not everyone is comfortable with the coming changes, though.
The law raises fresh worries about how much detail the drones will capture about lives down below — and what will be done with that information. Safety concerns such as midair collisions and property damage on the ground are also an issue.
The law requires the Federal Aviation Administration to allow drones to be used for all sorts of commercial endeavors — from selling real estate and dusting crops, to monitoring oil spills and wildlife, even shooting Hollywood films. Local police and emergency services will also be freer to send up their own drones.
U.S. courts have generally permitted surveillance of private property from public airspace. But scholars of privacy law expect that the likely proliferation of drones will force Americans to re-examine how much surveillance they are comfortable with.
“As privacy law stands today, you don’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy while out in public, nor almost anywhere visible from a public vantage,” said Ryan Calo, director of privacy and robotics at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford University. “I don’t think this doctrine makes sense, and I think the widespread availability of drones will drive home why to lawmakers, courts and the public.”
Some questions likely to come up: Can a drone flying over a house pick up heat from a lamp used to grow marijuana inside, or take pictures from outside someone’s third-floor fire escape? Can images taken from a drone be sold to a third party, and how long can they be kept?
Drone proponents say the privacy concerns are overblown. Randy Mcdaniel, chief deputy of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department in Conroe, Texas, near Houston, whose agency purchased a drone to use for various law-enforcement operations, dismissed worries about surveillance.
Still, the American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups are calling for new protections against what the ACLU has said could be “routine aerial surveillance of American life.”
Broadening the use of the airsace, which was inserted into a broader funding bill for the FAA, came after intense lobbying by drone-makers and potential customers.
Under the new law, within 90 days, the FAA must allow police and first responders to fly drones under 4.4 pounds, as long as they keep them under 400 feet and meet other requirements. The agency must also allow for “the safe integration” of all kinds of drones into U.S. airspace, including those for commercial uses, by Sept. 30, 2015. It must also come up with a plan for certifying operators and handling airspace safety issues, among other rules.
The agency probably will not be making privacy rules for drones. Although federal law until now had prohibited drones except for recreational use or for some waiver-specific law-enforcement purposes, the agency has issued only warnings for unauthorized uses, a spokeswoman said.
For drone-makers, the change in the law comes at a particularly good time. With the winding down of the war in Afghanistan, where drones have been used, these manufacturers have been awaiting new opportunities .
The Dayton area has a key role in drone research and implementation. The Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-patterson AFB manages the Reaper, Predator and Global Hawk unmanned aircraft programs, among other Air Force aircraft programs. The region is the state’s designated hub for aerospace innovation, so having UAVS in general airspace could help Dayton build its aerospace employment, and realize its goal of becoming a center of expertise. Staff writer John Nolan contributed to this story.