You must always respect people's privacy and not cause a nuisance when flying a drone or other unmanned aircraft.
The following information from the Drone and Model Aircraft Code sets out what you must do.
Respect other people and their privacy
If your drone or model aircraft is fitted with a camera or listening device, you must respect other people’s privacy whenever you use them.
If you use these devices where people can expect privacy, such as inside their home or garden, you’re likely to be breaking data protection laws.
It’s against the law to take photographs or record video or sound for criminal or terrorist purposes.
Any photos or recordings in which people could be identified may be subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. This includes whether you capture the people in the photos or recordings intentionally or unintentionally.
Make sure you know what your camera can do and the kind of images it can take
Knowing your camera's capabilities will help to reduce the risk of taking photos or recording videos that invade privacy.
Make sure you know:
- what quality you can record
- how close your camera can zoom in
- if you can start and stop recording when you are flying
Make sure you can be clearly seen when you’re out flying
Making sure you can be clearly seen when you’re out flying will ensure people know who’s responsible for the drone or model aircraft they see.
Let people know before you start recording or taking pictures
In some cases, this will be easy. For example, if you’re taking a photo of family and friends at a family barbecue.
In other cases, this will be less practical, so you must be careful to respect everyone’s right to privacy.
Think before sharing photos and videos
Avoid sharing anything that could be harmful to anyone.
Think carefully about who could see your photos and videos – especially before posting them on social media. Apply the same common-sense approach that you would with images or video recorded on a smartphone or digital camera.
Keep photos and videos secure
Store images safely. Delete anything you don’t need.
If you record images for commercial use, you’ll need to meet further specific requirements as a data controller.