Privacy fears: Panel has advice for drone operators

DALLAS (AP) — A panel of privacy experts and technology companies organized by the Obama administration has issued guidelines for using drones without being overly intrusive.

The Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration on Thursday released the "best practices," which were supported by drone makers, Amazon and other technology companies and retailers, and privacy advocates.

The Consumer Technology Association, a corporate group whose members include Google, Apple and Microsoft, said this week's guidelines balance innovation and privacy.

The group's director of regulatory affairs, Alex Reynolds, said that more "prescriptive rules" would threaten the benefits offered by drones, from delivering disaster relief to helping agriculture and infrastructure maintenance.

The Center for Democracy and Technology, a civil liberties group, said it hoped big companies and hobbyists alike would follow the guidelines.

The standards say news organizations should be able to use drones the same way they use comparable technology — such as planes and helicopters — to record data in public spaces as long as they follow their own ethics policies and federal and state laws.

In February 2015, President Barack Obama ordered the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration to help develop best practices for privacy and other issues surrounding drone use.