Does Your Business Need a Drone Policy?

Sarah Moore was quoted in Fortune on December 29, 2015. The article “Does Your Business Need a Drone Policy?” discussed the importance of taking control of your company’s airspace.

After all, said Sarah, “If drones can crash into the White House lawn, a tennis arena during the U.S. Open, or any number of prison yards across the country”—not to mention swooping uncomfortably close to a Presidential motorcade in Hawaii—“you can bet that your workplace is not immune.”

Employers, meanwhile, are grappling with the question of whether they need a policy that restricts drone use by employees, she said. Because so many of the flying machines come equipped with state-of-the-art digital cameras, she added, it’s a particularly pressing issue for managers concerned about protecting trade secrets.

Suppose you’re one of them. “It’s critical to take control of the airspace within and above your buildings, including parking lots and green spaces,” Sarah said. “You should start by crafting a policy that identifies ‘no drone zones’ both inside and outside.” Security staffers in charge of maintaining these no-fly areas need training in how to respond to unwelcome air traffic, including whether or when to report suspicious drones to the police or even the FAA.

It’s also smart to explicitly prohibit employees from bringing airborne toys to work, period, to avoid what Moore calls “potential legal exposures.” For example, she said, someone could use a drone to “capture footage which could become ‘Exhibit A’ in later government investigations or legal proceedings against your company.”

In the same way that the proliferation of smartphones prompted lots of employers to write up BYOD (bring your own device) policies, Sarah noted, “the next big thing is rules about BYOS, for ‘bring your own surveillance.’ Employees should leave their drones at home.”

To read the full article, please visit Fortune.