I do very little commercial work for pay, mostly for a few friends in real estate. Other projects are for free. I was wondering what I might need in the way of privacy statement that will be required by passage of new laws. Thanks for your help.
Privacy notice
- Thread starter Bob
- Start date
You need to take the following into consideration:
Use of Unmanned Aircraft Statute
GOVERNMENT CODE CHAPTER 423. USE OF UNMANNED AIRCRAFT
Texas Privacy Act
https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/84R/billtext/pdf/HB02167F.pdf#navpanes=0
You need to address how you will normally operate, what you will do if you unintentionally collect personally identifiable data, and how you will (or will not) store said data.
As a State entity, I will not operate over private land intentionally. If I do capture images of private property during the course of work, that data will be deleted or rendered sterile electronically so as to not be tied to any individual. Additionally, all data we collect/gather is stored on a secure computer that has limited access to the outside world. After a job has finished processing it is removed completely from the network and is transferred to a off-network portable drive. So barring a very specific Freedom of Information Act request...the data is in a black hole.
So tailor something to that effect to your business and run it by an attorney. Whatever you come up with, follow it and you should be golden. I posted our policy on the board somewhere around here a few days back. Keep in mind I work for the State and the laws are different for us.
NMUnmanned
Member
I think waiting until the regulations form the FAA are out. With the law using the word "should" have a policy, there are a couple of different ways it could go in how the FAA applies and enforces it regulations.
You "should" keep records of maintenance, flight logs, ect....FAA says that also. They mean keep records. You should have a privacy policy if you are a commercial pilot. Meaning, draft and follow a privacy policy. Time to grow up if you want to play in the big leagues.
At approximately 09.40 in the podcast Michael Huerta comments on privacy and the Reauthorization Act of 2018. He states (prophetically) that it is something that operators should do rather than having the FAA make it a regulation and force them to do....
Twenty Eight November
Active Member
I too work in State Government, not in Texas but in North Carolina. NMUnmanned is correct in looking at the word "should". I deal with law and contracts every single day and I don't care what the circumstance or what other laws are in place, but the word "should" in a law or contract does not mean you have to do it. Unless it says you "must" or "shall" no one, not even the federal government can hold you to it. I have seen multi million dollar law suits tossed out or lost because of the word "should".
Go back and read that statute that you posted the link to, it doesn't state unlawful it says it is lawful to capture images under the following.
6
(a) It is lawful to capture an image using an unmanned
aircraft in this state: (then everything listed all the way to the bottom are instances where it is lawful for you to capture images)
North Carolina has a similar statute and it is only unlawful here if you are capturing images of people who are on private property without their consent. If they are out in a public place then the privacy law is no different than those of any other recording means whether it is a hand held video camera or a still camera.
Even your agency's policy about capturing images of private property is flawed because unless you are below 100 feet off the ground and have your camera pointed straight down you will most likely capture some private property somewhere. Our Department flies road and corridor mapping here all the time and you always have private property adjacent to the roadway.
I am not saying you shouldn't have a privacy policy, I am trying to figure mine out right now and get something on paper, but it is just wrong to tell someone that they need to grow up and start doing this that and the other if it isn't an absolute requirement to do so. Should they do it, yes of course you should just to CYA, but I could give you a lot of examples of really Big League players who don't always do what they "should" do, and they have been at it a lot longer than probably anyone in this forum has.
The privacy question is interesting. In my business (inspections) we take more than 150 photos per job. Many are benign building elements but many are of personal belongings, to document their location since concealed areas are disclaimed.
We don't obtain permission as consent is implied and its an industry standard practice. I've never heard of a case of a property owner complaining. We store the images for 5 years and only use them (in the proper context) if needed to resolve a claim, such as a stack of boxes hiding a damaged area.
When you remove the word "drone" from the equation, nobody cares about the photos.
We don't obtain permission as consent is implied and its an industry standard practice. I've never heard of a case of a property owner complaining. We store the images for 5 years and only use them (in the proper context) if needed to resolve a claim, such as a stack of boxes hiding a damaged area.
When you remove the word "drone" from the equation, nobody cares about the photos.
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