A new voluntary privacy best practices guide for commercial and private drone operators, agreed to by some participants Wednesday through a collaborative NTIA-driven process, is being praised by some organizations (see 1605180044). "This forward-thinking approach facilitates the development of well-informed and thoughtful standards that balance privacy rights with the need to protect US innovation and economic competitiveness," said the Small UAV Coalition in a statement issued after Wednesday's meeting. Chris Calabrese, Center for Democracy and Technology vice president-policy, said in a statement the document has several important elements such as restricting "persistent and continuous" data collection of people and a detailed data collection policy, saying operators can't retain data longer than "reasonably necessary," and requiring drone operators to "minimize operations" over private property without consent of the property owner or legal authority. Participants began meeting in August. While many representatives appeared to support the document, several drone industry, insurance and privacy representatives said Wednesday they didn't for various reasons, saying further meetings wouldn't be productive. “Drones are already being used for search and rescue and to assist farmers, home contractors, photographers, newsgatherers, and may soon be used for wireless internet and delivery. These standards will help ensure these technologies are deployed with privacy in mind," said Future of Privacy Forum CEO Jules Polonetsky in a statement in support. Brian Wynne, CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, said in a statement that the document will help "facilitate the safe and responsible use" of drones. "Rather than create a complicated patchwork of new laws to address privacy, AUVSI encourages states and municipalities to allow commercial operators to adopt these uniform, federal privacy best practices," he said. Angela Simpson, NTIA deputy assistant secretary for communications and information, said in a blog post the voluntary guide will help build consumer trust, give users tools to innovate while respecting privacy and also provide accountability and transparency. NTIA will work with stakeholders to disseminate and promote the practices widely, she said.

Participants in an NTIA-driven process to develop privacy best practices for commercial and private drone operators are meeting Wednesday to review and possibly approve the draft document that was released nearly a month ago. A small subgroup of stakeholders involved in developing the latest document said it has gotten wide support among drone manufacturers and service providers, privacy groups and some technology companies. They said the larger NTIA multistakeholder group may reach consensus on the draft (see 1604280066). But Ryan Hagemann, the Niskanen Center's technology and civil liberties policy analyst, said his organization didn't support the draft because it doesn't "properly account for potential innovative uses of drones" and could potentially result in some negative unintended consequences for startups (see 1605030031). Wednesday's meeting, which will be webcast, will be 2-5 p.m. at the American Institute of Architects boardroom, 1735 New York Ave. NW.

A new drone advisory committee will help the Federal Aviation Administration identify and prioritize challenges and improvements with the integration of unmanned aerial vehicles into the national airspace, the agency said in a Wednesday news release. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta announced the formation of the Drone Advisory Council at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International's annual conference in New Orleans, said the agency. The committee is an outgrowth of the drone registration task force (see 1602190012) and Micro Unmanned Aircraft Systems Aviation Rulemaking Committee (see 1604060069) processes, but "is intended to be a long-lasting group," FAA said. “We know that our policies and overall regulation of this segment of aviation will be more successful if we have the backing of a strong, diverse coalition," Huerta said in a statement. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich and FAA Deputy Administrator Michael Whitaker will lead the committee, which will be comprised of representatives from academia, airports, government agencies including DOD and NASA, drone makers, operators and service providers, and others. The committee's makeup is expected to be final by May 31, said FAA-chartered RTCA (Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics), which operates federal advisory committees.

Cisco, CNN and drone companies said they formed an alliance to tout the benefits of the commercial unmanned aircraft industry in an effort to counter a negative public perception and actions by state and local lawmakers to curb drone use, in part due to privacy concerns. The Commercial Drone Alliance said in a Tuesday news release it will focus on educating lawmakers, fostering a positive view of the industry, and helping develop consensus-based standards, among other activities. While the Federal Aviation Administration predicted drone sales for commercial purposes will grow to 2.7 million by 2020, from 600,000 this year, "skepticism and fundamental misunderstandings have to led to efforts to stunt the growth of this industry," the release said. Diverse stakeholders in an NTIA-led initiative are expected to agree on voluntary drone privacy recommendations in two weeks (see 1604280066). The new alliance will be led by co-Executive Directors Lisa Ellman and Gretchen West, both of Hogan Lovells. West was previously executive vice president of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, and Ellman is a former White House adviser who led an initiative to develop drone policy within DOJ. Other group members include Aerialtronics, AirMap, DataWing, Lift, Measure, Nightingale Intelligent Systems, SkySpecs and Talon Aerolytics.

Revenue from global commercial drone-enabled services such as filming and entertainment, mapping, data collection and analytics and package delivery will reach $8.7 billion annually by 2025, up from $170 million in 2015, market research firm Tractica said in a Monday news release. Managing Director Clint Wheelock said that "most commercial applications for drones are related to aerial imaging or data analysis, taking advantage of low-cost components and ever-increasing sensor capabilities.” Despite the presence of regulatory and business barriers, he said, business models and policy frameworks "continue to be refined" globally, making the path ahead for commercial drone usage "clearer." Privacy advocates and industry are expected to come to agreement on voluntary drone privacy recommendations (see 1604280066).

NTIA Friday released a draft privacy best practices guide for drone users that appears to have the support of several civil liberties and industry stakeholders. The seven-page document, which emerged after numerous meetings among a wide range of stakeholders since last summer, will be discussed at a May 18 meeting, said the agency, which has only facilitated such meetings, in an email to participants. NTIA’s email said Amazon, the Center for Democracy and Technology, CTA and New America’s Open Technology Institute are among 11 stakeholders that support the draft. NTIA canceled an April 8 meeting to give several participants more time to work on the nonbinding guide (see 1604050027). The document outlines what private and commercial operators should do to inform the public about the potential collection, use, storage and sharing of data collected by their drones. It also says operators should monitor and adhere to changing federal, state and local laws about drone use and privacy and security matters. A small section says the best practices won’t apply to news agencies that use drones since they would be protected under the First Amendment. “These proposed draft principles recognize the value of drones for beneficial purposes, but also address in a practical way the privacy concerns they raise,” said Future of Privacy Forum CEO Jules Polonetsky, a participant, in a statement. “Much careful negotiation and compromise went into ensuring privacy issues could be addressed in a way that is practical, so operators both large and small can comply.” The May 18 meeting will be 2-5 p.m. at the American Institute of Architects boardroom, 1735 New York Ave., NW.

The White House budget office said drone safety is one area that needs to be improved within the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization package that a Senate panel approved in mid-March. The Office of Management and Budget in a statement Thursday said the administration wants "fast and efficient integration" of drones or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace, but the FAA needs regulatory flexibility. OMB said, for example, the Senate's FAA Reauthorization Act of 2016 (S-2658) "would direct the Department of Transportation to develop certification standards for small UAS so that companies could engage in the widespread transportation of property two years from passage. This kind of overly prescriptive means of integrating UAS using legislation would disrupt the ongoing rulemaking process." FAA was said (see 1604060069) to have begun drafting rules for allowing small drones or microdrones to fly over populated areas, which eventually could lead to commercial applications such as package delivery, news gathering and inspections. The Senate Commerce Committee approved the legislation in mid-March (see 1603160028), but a full Senate vote hasn't been scheduled.

The Federal Aviation Administration will host a two-day symposium on drones in Daytona Beach, beginning Tuesday, featuring keynotes by FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and Deputy Administrator Mike Whitaker. The FAA said it's seeking input from the drone industry and others about integration of unmanned aerial vehicles into national airspace. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will co-host the event.

A federal or state law enforcement agency couldn't use a drone to monitor or collect evidence for a criminal investigation, violation of a regulation or for intelligence purposes without a warrant, under a newly proposed bipartisan amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act. Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ed Markey, D-Mass, introduced the amendment Thursday, which they said would ensure people's constitutional privacy protections. The amendment also says evidence collected in violation of the amendment would be inadmissible in any U.S. court. "Congress must be vigilant in providing oversight to the use of this technology and protection for rights of the American people," Paul said in the statement. “Requiring that law enforcement obtain a warrant before using a drone ensures we reap the economic and educational benefits of drones while ensuring the privacy of Americans is protected," Markey said. The proposed amendment does contain some exceptions, such as when drones are used to patrol borders, when there's an "imminent danger to life" and when there is a high risk of a terrorist attack. The Senate's proposed FAA reauthorization bill contains several new provisions beneficial to drone use but also increases privacy protections for personally identifiable information (see 1603160028).

NTIA postponed Friday's meeting of stakeholders continuing their work to develop a best practices privacy guide aimed at commercial and private drone users, possibly until May. John Verdi, NTIA director of privacy initiatives, said Tuesday in an email to participants that a group of stakeholders has been making "excellent progress" on a revised draft, but that draft just won't be ready before the meeting. He said the participants expect to circulate the draft to the full group by April 22. Verdi said the plan is to reschedule the meeting to early May. "We recognize that the next meeting will be more constructive for everyone if stakeholders are able to review and consider a revised best practices document," he wrote. The multistakeholder meetings have been ongoing since summer to produce a nonbinding guide for drone users. Progress appears to have been made over several meetings, but participants haven't been able to reach consensus partly due to the level of detail that some want included in the document (see 1602240048).