You are a national authority wanting to use drones on rescue missions during an emergency or after a natural or humanitarian disaster. For example, you deploy a drone equipped with thermal imaging, a mobile phone signal sensor and GPS capabilities to search for hikers lost in the woods.
Below you will see some of the main privacy and data protection issues that could arise in this situation and tips/ safeguards for how to avoid them. Keep in mind the detailed information provided in the Handbook.
Privacy and Data Protection
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PRIVACY
Transparency, visibility and accountability: Drones
can remain undetected by individuals on the ground, who may not be aware that
a drone is in operation or that it is collecting their personal data. This is
especially true in the forest where trees could obstruct the visibility of the
drone. Even if people notice it, they are unlikely to be able to identify the
operator or the specific mission that is being undertaken.Bodily privacy: This can be threatened when drones are
fitted with equipment that, aside from visual information, has also thermal
(e.g. thermal sensors) or other capabilities, e.g. facial recognition,
biological and chemical sensors.Privacy of location and space: Persons have the right to
move freely without being identified, tracked and monitored, even in public
spaces. Use the drone to look for and pursue specific people only in emergency
circumstances. -
DATA PROTECTION
There is a risk of collecting significant amounts of personal information
about people in the woodland, including location data, body characteristics
and other personally identifiable information.Lawfulness, fairness, transparency: Your collection
and processing of personal data must be lawful, based on one of the options
laid down by EU law. It must be fair, meaning that it must not cause any harm
to the individuals. It must also be transparent – people have to know if their
images have been captured, by whom and why.Purpose limitation: People have the right to know exactly
for what purpose their data is collected and, once you inform them of the
reason (security, safety and rescue missions), you cannot use their data for a
different incompatible purpose (e.g. examining visitors to the park for
marketing purposes) without informing them again and ensuring your actions are
lawful (see above).Storage limitation: You should not keep the footage of
people in a manner that would allow their identification for longer than
necessary to achieve your legitimate purpose. However, consider if there are
other legitimate reasons to keep the information, for example for insurance
needs, archive necessities or other legal requirements.Integrity and confidentiality: Where you have footage
of identifiable people, you should make sure that that data is stored in a
secure and protected manner. It should be protected from unauthorised access
by both third parties, as well as your own employees.Accountability: Remember that, if you collect personal data
and can choose what to do with it, you will be accountable if you don’t follow
any of these principles. -
SAFEGUARDS
TIPS - Consider how best to inform persons that
they may be subject to surveillance in the event of a rescue mission, e.g.,
have signs at the entrance to a park / walking path and add information on
the website of the location, if there is one.TIPS - Do not fly too close to persons so as to make
them feel uncomfortable or cause them harm.TIPS - You must act in accordance with the applicable
rules of law. Take time to understand those. Since some of the information
you may collect, for example the thermal body images of the people in the
park, may be considered sensitive data, special rules may be applicable.
TIPS - Once the mission (i.e. the legitimate purpose) is
finished, discard data that you collected, unless it is necessary for
subsequent investigations or legal actions constituting a legitimate
purpose. If any data needs to be stored, ensure that personal data are
stored and processed securely and protected from disclosure and unlawful
intrusion. Only store the minimum personal data necessary.TIPS - Do not share data on identifiable persons with
third parties without those persons’ consent or without another legal
obligation requiring you to do so.TIPS - Consider taking steps, such as blurring as soon
as possible to minimise the amount of personal data collected from people
inadvertently captured by the sensors of the drone. However, pay attention
not to remove information that may be necessary at a later stage for
investigations, insurance purposes or pursuant to other legal requirements.
TIPS - Individuals recorded should have a right to
access the material concerning their own personal data and to request that
the data controller delete that material. They should be informed of this
right. However, pay attention to any other legal requirements you may be
subject to.TIPS - Be aware who the data controller and processor
is, especially if you are carrying out this activity together with another
company. Remember that data controllers and data processors are subject to
various legal obligations in the EU.