NTIA Releases Plans for Multistakeholder Meeting on Drone Use

NTIA released plans Wednesday for a multistakeholder meeting to address privacy, transparency, and accountability issues for the commercial and private use of unmanned aircraft systems, commonly referred to as drones. In a presidential memorandum dated Feb. 15, the White House asked NTIA to hold a multistakeholder meeting with industry, civil society, technical experts, academics and other stakeholders, on privacy concerns "while ensuring the United States maintains its leadership and promotes innovation in this growing industry,” said NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling. Consumer groups have expressed concern with the multistakeholder approach (see 1502170038), and argue the process doesn’t work because consumer advocates are largely outnumbered by industry lobbyists. This announcement “shows how out of touch the White House and Commerce Department are on data issues,” said Center for Digital Democracy Executive Director Jeff Chester: “Allowing industry lobbyist dominated meetings, where consumer groups are vastly out numbered and there is no representation from civil rights organizations and many others, to determine the privacy rules of the air is irresponsible.” In a column for The Christian Science Monitor Wednesday, former White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer Nicole Wong cast doubt on whether a multistakeholder policy development process works. “We have learned from previous multistakeholder privacy convenings (for example, the Do-Not-Track working group trying to standardize cookie settings for more than three years), that it is difficult to develop practical, enforceable and adopted codes unless all parties come to the table committed to reach agreement,” Wong said. “There is no future in which less data is collected and used.” People can't “continue to argue for leaving the safekeeping of our data to the discretion of private actors. Individuals, companies and governments want clarity and consistency,” she said. The FCC and FTC should be responsible for developing a plan to ensure diverse and independent perspectives to protect privacy are developed, Chester said. The first public meeting on drones will be held within 90 days from Wednesday’s publication of the request for comment. Comments on the RFC are due to NTIA 45 days from when it's in the Federal Register.