EPIC to Senate Committee: Press FAA on Drone Privacy

Prior to a hearing on "New Entrants in the National Airspace," EPIC has urged the Senate Commerce Committee to ensure that the FAA establish drone privacy safeguards. EPIC also said the FAA should 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. EPIC recently filed comments on the FAA's proposal for external ID for drones. Last week, Senators Edward Markey (D-MA) and John Thune (R-SD) urged the FAA to quickly publish a rule for the realtime, remote identification of 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 agency rule authorizing commercial drone operations without privacy safeguards.