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Content type: News & Analysis
In a legal challenge brought by French activist group, La Quadrature du Net (LGDN), the Conseil d’État, the French highest court, has ruled that the use of drones by the police in the context of monitoring compliance with Covid-19 lockdown measures was unlawful.
The ruling found that the imagery and footage captured by drones flying at a low altitude was personal data to the extent that individuals filmed were identifiable. Consequently, the operation of drones by the police amounted…
Content type: News & Analysis
Photo: The European Union
On 2 September 2019, Privacy International, together with 60 other organisations, signed an open letter to the European Parliament to express our deep concern about upcoming EU policy proposals which undermine the EU’s founding values of human rights, peace and disarmament.
Since 2017, the EU has diverted funds towards security research and security capacity-building in countries around the world. The proposal for the EU's next budget (2021-2027) will…
Content type: News & Analysis
News that the United Nations is using drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) to collect information in the troubled east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) illustrates the growing use – and acceptance - of surveillance technologies in humanitarian operations.
The deployment of two drones by the UN Stabilisation Mission (MONUSCO) in the DRC last week, to assist the Mission in fulfilling its mandate to protect civilians, had been long foreshadowed, with requests for their use in the…
Content type: News & Analysis
Drones are back in the headlines, with the news that the Ministry of Defence plans to develop unmanned underwater vehicles for use in submarine warfare. Human rights groups have already raised concerns over the UK’s use of airborne military drones, which have played a key role in UK operations in Afghanistan since 2008. But drone technology is not limited to military uses: the deployment of ‘civilian’ drones, designed for use in home airspace, may be an emerging trend in UK policing.…
Content type: News & Analysis
Last Friday the Electronic Frontier Foundation received new information from the US Federal Aviation Administration in response to their FOIA demanding data on certifications and authorizations the agency has issued for the operation of unmanned aircraft.
The information includes extensive details about the specific drone models currently flying in US civilian airspace, including those being used by four local police forces. The North Little Rock Police Department in Arkansas is…