EPIC Sues FAA, Challenges Failure to Create Drone Privacy Safeguards
Today EPIC filed suit in the federal appeals court in Washington, DC arguing that the Federal Aviation Administration failed to establish privacy rules for commercial drones as mandated by Congress. Congress had required the FAA to develop a "comprehensive plan" for drone deployment. In 2012 EPIC and more than 100 organizations and experts also urged the federal agency to establish privacy protections prior to the deployment of commercial drones in the United States. The FAA denied the EPIC petition, claiming it "did not raise an immediate safety concern." Then last month the FAA announced a rulemaking on commercial drones and purposefully ignored privacy concerns, stating that privacy "issues are beyond the scope of this rule making."