Panel of experts in field discuss right to photograph in air and on ground

Legal experts, law enforcement and photographers agree: the law has not kept pace with changing photographic technology.

Seven industry professionals convened in the National Press Club's Zenger Room on Oct. 20 for a lively discussion of the rights and boundaries of photography on the ground and in the air at a special event sponsored by the Photography Committee. Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, moderated the panel.

Panelist John Verdi, director of privacy initiatives at the U.S. Department of Commerce, described ongoing meetings within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to define best practices for regulation of Unmanned Aerial Systems or drones. The panelists agreed that the rules and regulations had not kept pace with changing technology or adequately addressed nuances of operational capabilities for varying devices.

Addressing the issue of law enforcement and the use of UAV’s, Liz Lyons, privacy officer for Washington's Metropolitan Police Department, said the department did not own any drones nor did it have any plans to acquire them. She also said, unlike many departments across the U.S., Washington's Metro police do not possess any military equipment. While a video from an officer’s camera played on screen, Lyons described the body-worn unit’s field of view as limited to just what the officer can see under normal circumstances. In particular, she noted that neither night vision equipment nor enhanced lighting was being used.

Derek Meeks, director of the body-worn camera program for the MPD explained how body-worn cameras will be used to change behavior of all parties involved. Meeks also described the program as “a quest for truth, not just narrative.”

Both Lyons and colleague Meeks noted the limitations of time and space with respect to storage of officer generated video. In cases where there is no reason to preserve the video data most videos are deleted after 90 days. Meeks said MPD had received 18,000 videos in the last 30 days.

Mannie Garcia, a freelance visual journalist ,was quick to delineate the differences between the UAS and UAV nomenclature and the term “drone” noting that one is, “destructive, very destructive.” Garcia also questioned the logic of defining a difference between a photo made standing on the ground and one captured from 50 feet in the air.

Further contradictions in the laws and regulations governing news gathering helicopters and UAV’s were discussed by the panelists. Many were quick to note that despite being much smaller than helicopters, UAVs are not undetectably quiet.