By Philip Butterworth-Hayes
US law enforcement agencies have access to a new app which will help them identify rogue drone operators.
The US Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Drone Information for Safety, Compliance, Verification, and Reporting (DiSCVR) app links Remote ID broadcasts to FAA registration and Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) authorizations, so authorized agencies can instantly verify if a drone is legal to fly.
According to the FAA, DiSCVR can assist law enforcement agencies identifying legally flying drones that have FAA authorization and proper registration, so they can be ruled out for further investigation. The app allows agencies to retrieve personally identifiable information (PII) data about the operator from the Remote ID broadcasts, LAANC UAS authorizations and DroneZone sUAS registrations and approved waivers.
“As of March 16, 2024, all drones over 249g or operating under Part 107 are required to broadcast a Remote ID number,” said an FAA briefing note. “Many have compared this Remote ID number to a digital license plate— a number that can be seen by everyone, but only specific entities can look up its registration. Currently, law enforcement can retrieve registration, waiver, and authorization information by contacting FAA’s Law Enforcement Assistance Program. DiSCVR will enable law enforcement’s direct access for specified purposes,” said the paper
Access to the DISCVR Community via FAA API Portal and to the DISCVR API specification hosted there, as well as an access to DISCVR system itself, is only available to US Federal Government or military entities possessing a government or military email address, said another FAA briefing note.
In 2024, the Department for Transportation published a privacy statement which laid out how personal drone operator data is stored and used.
https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2024-11/Privacy%20-%20FAA%20-%20LAANC%20-%20B4UFLY%20-%20PIA%20-%202024.pdf
For more information
https://www.faa.gov/uas/public_safety_gov/discvr.pdf
https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2024-11/Privacy%20-%20FAA%20-%20LAANC%20-%20B4UFLY%20-%20PIA%20-%202024.pdf