I wrote a piece recently about why UAS service providers and others in the drone ecosystem need to have a comprehensive data security and privacy policy. The need to think holistically about drone data security and privacy was made even clearer by a recent incident involving a purported directive from the U.S. Department of the Interior (one of the largest government users of small drones) that allegedly prohibited the purchase and use of DJI Phantom drones. According to the initial reports, the DOI had issued the prohibition because it believed that the DJI drones were automatically sending telemetry (and perhaps other) data back to servers in China when they completed flight missions.
DOI subsequently denied that it had ever issued such a directive, and DJI issued a statement clarifying that the user had control over whether data was shared with DJI or any third party. The story died after a few days, but the controversy raised anew the question of data security. The focus to date
Mark Del Bianco Attorney at Law
It’s Time to Start Thinking About Data Security in the UAS Ecosystem
18 sUAS Guide / Q3 Update, October 2016