Making Drones More Acceptable with Privacy Impact Assessments

Abstract

This chapter contends that a credible privacy impact assessment (PIA) can help drone manufacturers and operators to meet their legal and ethical obligations. The new European Data Protection Regulation will make PIAs mandatory (The European Commission has coined the term “data protection impact assessment” (DPIA) which is like a PIA, but only covers one type of privacy, i.e., data protection.); so, companies should already be gaining some experience in the conduct of a PIA and, especially, be clear about the benefits of doing so. This chapter outlines the process for conducting a PIA and the benefits to be gained. Before doing so, it refers to some of the useful applications of drones, but makes the point that drones also present dangers, inter alia, they present privacy risks. That is one reason why drone manufacturers and operators must, of course, comply with privacy and data protection legislation, and there are various technologies and practices that can help them do so, one of which is a PIA. This chapter then discusses who should conduct a PIA and when, and the features of a PIA process and report. This chapter asks whether drones should be subject to a special PIA like those developed for RFID and smart meter applications by industry and supported by the European Commission. This chapter draws to a conclusion by citing some of the benefits of conducting a PIA, but then raises the question whether a PIA is sufficient to assess drones. While this chapter makes the case for a PIA, it concludes by posing the question whether a wider ranging societal impact assessment, incorporating a PIA, might be better.