The German Parliament is about to approve a new law to include unmanned aircraft in air traffic laws.
The police already have unmanned aircraft, which they use to monitor demonstrations, for example. They were used for the first time about a year ago during protests against a nuclear waste transport and to keep an eye on soccer matches in the state of Saxony.
But police are limited in the extent to which they can employ drones, with strict regulation of range, elevation, and flight times.
Current law says the unmanned flying objects cannot be bigger than a model, and that the skies are reserved for manned flying machines. But that’s about to change. A new airspace law, which is set to be approved Thursday, will open the skies for larger drones that have been only used by the military so far.
“There is a technological development that needs to be regulated,” said a spokesman from the German transport ministry. For the first time, unmanned aircraft are to be included in air-traffic laws and allowed to “participate equally in air traffic,” according to the bill.
“It is not the case that the government is introducing drones,” said the ministry spokesman. The law only “creates the category” and allows for a procedure of approval. In addition to use by the police, these aircraft could be introduced to monitor traffic, survey land or in connection with environmental protection measures, the ministry said.
Wolfgang Neskovic of the Left party says it’s a “constitutional nightmare.” “The use of drones by police is the final remaining puzzle piece for the total technological surveillance of people in public,” he said.
Equipped with powerful cameras, the drones would be able to identify who has been spending time where and when, und exactly what they did there, he pointed out.
Neskovic believes the government is trying to push through measures that would lead to fundamental invasions of the private sphere without attracting attention. The suggestion to include drones in air-traffic laws appears harmless when incorporated into a bill that mainly exists to implement various EU policies regarding air traffic. The draft bill was brought to Parliament shortly before Christmas.
“That is a very problematic issue,” said Konstantin von Notz, a domestic policy spokesman for the Green Party. He is calling on the government to provide precise information about how exactly the drones could be used. Some Green party members are giving their approval to the bill anyway – under the condition that data protection measures be improved.
Germany’s data protection commissioner, Peter Schaar, has also weighed in on the subject. “These systems are capable of filming people and monitoring their movements,” he said. “It is also potentially possible to collect data associated with a specific person.”
He says data protection measures should be added to the bill. That could mean, for example, that in order for a drone to be approved, data protection standards would have to be met in addition to technical standards.
In parliament, the exact wording of the bill is being negotiated, and it appears as if Schaar’s demands will indeed be heeded.
Source: Deutsche Welle