Ngā ture tūmataiti mō ngā matatopa Privacy laws for drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)

Privacy Act 2020

You could be in breach When someone breaks the rules or an agreement. of the Privacy Act 2020 if your drone or UAV captures personal information, imagery or videos.

You must understand the rules about the types of images and videos of people you can collect, store and share. You could be prosecuted if you breach the rules.

Personal information

Personal information is any information that can tell us something about a specific person. This can include clear imagery that can identify the person in a public or private place and has been taken without their permission.

Intimate recordings

Drones and UAVs can also take intimate recordings of people without their permission. A drone or UAV can breach the Privacy Act 2020 or Crimes Act 1961 if:

• it flies near or over private property and takes photos or videos without the occupier’s permission
• privacy is affected to an ‘unreasonable extent’.

This can include imagery taken in public places.

Injury to feelings

If images contain personal information, and the person is upset, anxious or angry about this, they may suffer an ‘injury to feelings’. This could be a serious breach of the Act.

Report a breach of privacy

Make a complaint if you think a drone or UAV has breached your privacy.