DronesTexas Senate bans using drones to take photos, videos without subjects’ permission

Last Sunday the Texas State Senate passed, by a 26-5 vote, a law banning citizens from using drones to take photographs or videos.. The measure will now go to the state House of Representatives.

“The privacy and property rights of Texans, it is important that specific safeguards are put into place which govern the purpose and manner in which drones may be used,” the bill’s author, Representative Lance Gooden, (R) told the Dallas Morning News.

The Morning News reports that the legislation will make using a drone to take photos or videos of people without their permission a Class C misdemeanor, which could lead to a $500 fine. Distributing photos or videos taken from a drone will be a Class B misdemeanor, and civil liabilities could add up to $10,000.

Some lawmakers wanted to give law enforcement blanket permission to use drones, but the bill allows for UAVs to be used in only felony investigations and the pursuit of a suspect or a criminal. Law enforcement agencies will require a warrant to use a drone in the case of misdemeanors.

Other exceptions to the legislation include the investigation of disasters, fatalities, and industrial plant accidents.

One reason for the bill could be that the Federal Aviation Administration estimates that by the year 2020, 30,000 drones will be operating within the United States.

Supporters of the legislation say that privacy laws need to catch up with a rapidly advancing technology. Opponents of such laws say that it will make it difficult for news crews and photographers to cover news stories and natural and man-made disasters.

Gooden says the bill will not have an effect on news coverage, adding that there will also be an exception for the investigation of hazardous spills, after a local hobbyist with a drone that was outfitted with a camera, captured untreated pig blood being dumped into the Trinity River.