EPIC to House Committee: Press FAA on Drone Privacy

As the House Appropriations Committee considers the Department of Transportation's FY2020 Budget, EPIC has urged the Committee to ensure that the FAA establish and publish drone privacy procedures as required by law. EPIC also said the FAA must require remote identification of drones. "Currently, individuals cannot hold drone operators accountable because it is essentially impossible to identify the drone or the operator of a drone," EPIC said. Last month, EPIC filed comments on the FAA's interim final rule for external ID for drones. In 2012 EPIC, backed by more than one hundred organizations and privacy experts, petitioned the agency to establish privacy safeguards for drones. EPIC also cited a 2012 law requiring the FAA to develop a "comprehensive plan" for drone deployment. EPIC subsequently filed suit against the FAA, challenging the 2016 rule authorizing commercial drone operations without any privacy safeguards.