Drones, personal data protection and related rights

Inês Camarinha Lopes

Keywords

Drones; I&D; privacy; personal data protection; 1/2005 Act, from the 10th of January; GDPR.

Abstract

Drones are an emerging technology. Its growth has taken place in a wide range of areas and brought significant economic reflexes. Some of the economic benefits of this innovation are the creation of new jobs and the investment in I&D on different drones’ related areas.
Besides these benefits, the [inflated] introduction of drones into the daily lives of citizens can be threatening to their rights. In particular, the rights to privacy and private life, image, word and the protection of personal data, as well as the freedoms of movement and expression.
In this paper we ponder the accuracy of the 1/2005 Act, from the 10th of January as an adequate legal framework for the use of drones. This Act is outdated in regard to the current possibilities of video surveillance. We discuss the need of the Proposal of Law no. 173/XIII in the protection of the above-mentioned rights and freedoms; as well as how a drone usage constitutes a processing of personal data that falls within the scope of the GDPR, the need to reinterpret the principles of personal data protection and the emphasis of the principle of privacy by design and by default.