Below is a list of voluntary guidelines for “neighborly” drone use, which serve to provide guidance to UAS operators on ways to balance their rights as drone users and other people’s rights to privacy.

  • If you can, tell other people you’ll be taking pictures or video of them before you do so.
  • If you think someone has a reasonable expectation of privacy, don’t violate that privacy by taking pictures, video, or otherwise gathering sensitive data, unless you’ve got a very good reason.
  • Don’t fly over other people’s private property without permission if you can easily avoid doing so.
  • Don’t gather personal data for no reason, and don’t keep it for longer than you think you have to.
  • If you keep sensitive data about other people, secure it against loss or theft.
  • If someone asks you to delete personal data about him or her that you’ve gathered, do so, unless you’ve got a good reason not to.
  • If anyone raises privacy, security, or safety concerns with you, try and listen to what they have to say, as long as they’re polite and reasonable about it.
  • Don’t harass people with your drone.