Federal Agency Publishes Best Practices For Drone Privacy

On February 15, 2015, President Obama tasked the National Telecommunications & Information Administration ("NTIA") of the U.S. Department of Commerce with development of "best practices for privacy, accountability, and transparency issues regarding commercial and private UAS use in the National Airspace System." After engaging industry stakeholders, including Amazon, Google X, and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, the NTIA issued its report on May 19, 2016. Titled "Voluntary Best Practices for UAS Privacy, Transparency, and Accountability," the report recommends five best practices:

• Notify the public: where practical, operators should provide notice to individuals who are expected to be in the vicinity of UAS that will be collecting "covered data," which is defined as "information collected by a UAS that identifies a particular person."