6. What do I need to remember before flying my drone?
Question: Am I allowed to capture images or video of individual(s) in their private life?
Answer: In general no, unless they give their permission to you to do so.
Question: Am I allowed to capture images of individuals in public areas?
Answer: Not necessarily. This is because the right to private life can still be applied to public areas if an individual can reasonably expect a certain degree of privacy. What this means is that a person sitting at a park or attending a large entertainment event may be visible from a distance and as a part of the whole picture you capture with your drone, but they will not necessarily intend to be targeted with a zoom lens or a directional microphone. This means you cannot target them without their permission.
Question: What if people are in a public place and they are captured in my drone footage? Is this allowed?
Answer: In general, yes, if it is just an image and they are not targeted, nor are they the subject of continuous footage or surveillance. For instance, there is no problem if they happen to be briefly and inadvertently captured in your footage and they are in a public place (e.g., a person walking through a park).
Answer: No, if you are recording both visual images and/or sound recordings of individual/s in a targeted, systematic or permanent way.
Do not share targeted still or moving images combined with sound recordings of individual/s captured in a public space, without their permission. This is especially important if the images are obtained via high/agility and/or enhanced vision capabilities such as infrared, night vision, thermal imaging or video analytics.
European citizens have the right to defend their broad right to private life before national courts, unless an interference with that right is legally justified (i.e., in the interest national security and safety and to prevent criminal activity etc.)
Important guidelines
If your drone has the following capabilities, please observe the following guidelines:
| Capabilities / content | Guidelines |
|---|---|
| Image(s) of individuals only | Incidental images of individuals may be authorised (e.g. a casual person as part of the background) |
| Targeted images of individuals are not allowed (e.g.: zoom, close ups, etc.) | |
| Image(s) + sound recording(s) of individuals | Incidental fragments of conversation may be authorised (e.g. short parts of conversation) |
| Targeted and long recordings are not allowed | |
| Image(s) + sounds recording(s) + location tracking (GPS) | Not allowed |