EPIC to Argue for Disclosure of FAA Drone Committee Records

EPIC Counsel John Davisson will argue before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday morning in EPIC's open government case against the FAA Drone Advisory Committee. The argument is scheduled to begin around 10 a.m. EPIC filed suit in 2018 against the industry-dominated committee, which largely ignored the privacy risks posed by the deployment of drones—even after identifying privacy as a top public concern. As a result of EPIC's lawsuit, the committee was forced to disclose hundreds of pages of records. But a lower court ruled that the agency could withhold records from the committee's secretive working groups. EPIC recently told the Court of Appeals that the FAA's interpretation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act would undermine the open meetings law. The case is EPIC v. Drone Advisory Committee, No. 19-5238 (D.C. Cir.).