March 15, 2017–Sen. Edward J. Markey (D., Mass.) and Rep. Peter Welch (D., Vt.) today introduced Senate and House companion bills that would require applicants for Federal Aviation Administration drone licenses to include a data collection statement with details on where the drone will be flown, what kind of data will be collected, how the data will be used, whether it will be sold to third parties, and how long the data will be retained.   The proposed Drone Aircraft Privacy Act would also require law enforcement to obtain a warrant for any surveillance using a drone, with an exception for “exigent circumstances.”  The bill would require law enforcement to include a data minimization statement with their license applications explaining how they will minimize the collection and retention of data unrelated to their investigation.  And it would require the FAA to post a list of approved drone licenses on the publicly available website, with each licensee’s data collection or data minimization statement, information on any data security breaches suffered by the licensee, and the times and location of drone flights.

Courtesy TRDaily