Patrice Hendriksen · December 2013
82 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 207 (2013)
Unmanned aircraft systems (“UASs”), popularly known as “drones,” are an evolving technology that provides a tempting alternative to more traditional law enforcement surveillance methods. Their presence in the national airspace is a quickly approaching reality. The Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) is the primary agency regulating UAS use, but its reach extends to safety, not privacy. The FAA must integrate UASs into the national airspace by 2015. UAS technology and its market are also changing. Models are becoming smaller, faster, and less expensive to build and operate. There will likely be 30,000 UASs in our skies by 2030, with law enforcement agencies representing their most significant future users.
Domestic UAS surveillance operations implicate the Fourth Amendment right to freedom from unreasonable searches and other privacy interests. UASs have great potential to violate citizens’ “reasonable expectations of privacy” as explained by the Supreme Court in aerial surveillance and sense-enhancing technology cases because the technology lacks certain practical boundaries that formerly constrained traditional surveillance.
This Note proposes that Congress amend the FAA Modernization and Reform Act to mandate interagency coordination among UAS federal stake-holders. Congress should require these stakeholders to create a Memorandum of Understanding that clarifies responsibilities, recommends permissible use guidelines, and creates accountability for the privacy implications of UAS integration. Such an amendment will effectively address the complexity of UAS operations and close the privacy gap that exists under the law today.
