Re: Unmanned Aircraft (UAS) Registration Rules
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 5:39 am
I will just leave this right here. http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngoglia/2015/12/18/faa-finally-admits-names-and-home-addresses-in-drone-registry-will-be-publicly-available/
The FAA finally confirmed this afternoon that model aircraft registrants’ names and home addresses will be public. In an email message, the FAA stated: “Until the drone registry system is modified, the FAA will not release names and address. When the drone registry system is modified to permit public searches of registration numbers, names and addresses will be revealed through those searches.”
I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of whether names and home addresses of model aircraft or hobby drone owners – including children as young as 13 – will be made available by the FAA to the public once the FAA’s new unmanned aircraft registry goes live on Monday. It seems a simple enough question. But it took a while to get a straight answer.
My confusion arose because of an apparent contradiction that a colleague pointed out to me between what the FAA stated in its FAQs on the new registration rule and what the Department of Transportation stated in a legal filing made at the same time as the FAA’s new rule was published. The FAA’s FAQs made it appear that only the FAA, its contractor and law enforcement agencies would have access to the data. Here is the FAA’s FAQ:
Who can see the data that I can enter?
A. The FAA will be able to see the data that you enter. The FAA is using a contractor to maintain the website and database, and that contractor also will be able to see the data that you enter. Like the FAA, the contractor is required to comply with strict legal requirements to protect the confidentiality of the personal data you provide. Under certain circumstances, law enforcement officers might also be able to see the data.
This led me – and many others I’ve spoken with – to believe that only these three entities would have access to registrants’ personal information. But my colleague pointed out that the DOT’s filing contained the following statement, “all records maintained by the FAA in connection with aircraft registered are included in the Aircraft Registry and made available to the public, except email address and credit card information submitted under part 48 [the new model aircraft registry].” In addition, the DOT statement says the name and address of model aircraft owners will be searchable by registration number.