Privacy & Public Safety Considerations Flashcards

A commercial drone pilot is asked to photograph a competitor's manufacturing facility from public airspace. The primary ethical and legal concern is:

Answer: Potential trade secret misappropriation and industrial espionage

Systematically photographing a competitor's facility to capture proprietary processes or layouts can constitute trade secret misappropriation under the Defend Trade Secrets Act.

Under FAA Remote ID rules, which public safety benefit does broadcast Remote ID provide?

Answer: It allows the public and law enforcement to identify the operator of a nearby drone

Remote ID broadcasts the drone's position, altitude, velocity, and operator location so law enforcement and the public can identify and locate the operator of any drone in flight.

A remote pilot is contracted to survey a large outdoor music festival. The contract requires hovering over the crowd for 30 minutes. Without an approved waiver, this operation is:

Answer: Prohibited under Part 107 because it involves sustained flight over people

Part 107.39 prohibits operating over human beings not involved in the operation without a waiver or qualifying drone category approval, regardless of event organizer consent.

Which of the following is an example of a 'categorical exclusion' that would allow flight over moving vehicles without a Part 107 waiver?

Answer: Operating a Category 4 drone on a closed-road film set with no public access

FAA waivers and category-specific approvals can include operations on closed sets where the public is excluded; a controlled environment removes the hazard to uninvolved persons.

A remote pilot discovers that footage from a previous commercial job contains images of a private individual that were not requested by the client. Best practice is to:

Answer: Review and delete incidental personal images not needed for the contracted purpose

Deleting unneeded personal data aligns with privacy best practices, reduces exposure under state privacy law, and limits potential misuse of incidentally captured personal imagery.

A Part 107 remote pilot is asked to fly at night over a crowd at a stadium during a fireworks show. Which combination of requirements must be met?

Answer: Anti-collision lighting and a night waiver or Part 107.29 compliance, plus a waiver for flight over people

Night operations require anti-collision lighting visible at 3 SM and compliance with 107.29, while flying over the crowd requires either a waiver or Category drone approval — both must be satisfied simultaneously.

How does the concept of 'reasonable expectation of privacy' differ between a person in their backyard versus a person walking on a public sidewalk?

Answer: Backyard occupants have a stronger privacy claim, while sidewalk users have reduced expectations due to public exposure

Courts generally recognize that enclosed private spaces like backyards carry a higher reasonable expectation of privacy than public sidewalks where observation by others is expected.