The Federal Aviation Administration has filed a in response to EPIC’s lawsuit, , charging that the agency failed to establish privacy rules for commercial drones as required by law. EPIC sued the agency after Congress for drone deployment and a , backed by more than one hundred organizations and privacy experts, called for privacy safeguards. In its response to EPIC, the FAA acknowledged that the comprehensive plan “recognizes the privacy issues that may be heightened” by drone surveillance. The FAA also conceded that drones, “because of their size and capabilities, may enhance privacy concerns,” but the agency has still not begun the process of developing regulations to safeguard privacy.
