FAA Failed to Consider Drone Privacy, EPIC Brief Says in Lawsuit

Despite Federal Aviation Administration conclusions that a comprehensive plan to safely integrate drones into the national airspace must address privacy concerns, the Electronic Privacy Information Center said the FAA "failed" to consider privacy, in its opening 55-page brief of a lawsuit against the agency (see 1606210025). EPIC, which filed the August suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (see 1608260020), said drones pose "unique" privacy threats since they can carry cameras, recording devices and other sophisticated capabilities that can capture people's personal information. The group said the order that excludes privacy issues should be vacated because the agency failed to determine, as required by the FAA Modernization Act, "whether the proposed small drone operations would 'create a hazard ... to the public' by enabling invasions of privacy and property." EPIC said the agency excluded privacy from the rulemaking based on a narrow interpretation of the term "hazard," and the decision to exclude privacy is against its own prior interpretations of its obligations. The FAA didn't comment Tuesday.