Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, PRIVACY NEWS: NTIA seeks comment on best practices for drone use, (Mar 5, 2015)

By Jody Coultas, J.D.

The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is seeking comment on a new multistakeholder process aimed at developing privacy best practices for the commercial and private use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

On February 15, President Obama called on NTIA to convene stakeholders to develop best practices that would enhance privacy, accountability, and transparency related to the commercial use of UAS. The President called on NTIA to bring industry, civil society, technical experts, academics and other stakeholders together to craft best practices that mitigate potential privacy risks, while at the same time promoting growth and innovation. This process is aimed at ensuring that organizations are accountable for adhering to practices and are transparent concerning UAS operations.

UAS hold the potential to support services that are prohibitively expensive, dangerous, or impossible for manned aircraft to perform, but the technology also raises privacy, accountability, and transparency concerns.

NTIA is seeking input on questions that could frame the multistakeholder discussions, including:

• Do some UAS-enabled commercial services raise unique or heightened privacy issues?

• What specific best practices would mitigate the most pressing privacy challenges while supporting innovation?

• What information should commercial UAS operators make public?

• How can UAS operators ensure that oversight procedures for commercial and private UAS operations comply with relevant policies and best practices?

• Should discussions be divided to address the needs of different aircraft sizes or commercial uses?

Those seeking to provide input on the Request for Comment will have 45 days from the date it is published in the Federal Register to submit comments to NTIA. NTIA expects to convene the first public meeting within 90 days from the publication of the Request for Comment.

News: Privacy