A Study on Drone Flight Safety and Protection of Privacy
Authors:   The Institute of Legal Studies, Kyunghee University, Choung Wan 
Published: July 2022

A drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle included in the ultra-light vehicle category under the Aviation Act. Recently, as the number of people who own and use drones is rapidly increasing, legal problems such as drone flight safety issues and invasion of privacy are frequently occurring. Accordingly, around 2021, the Aviation Safety Act was amended to classify drones, that is, unmanned ultra-light flying devices, into four categories according to their weight, and in all cases, the qualification conditions were mandatory so that they could fly only after obtaining a pilot’s certificate. Many users are not aware of this fact, and if they fly without a license, they will be fined at least 3 million won.
Drones, which are considered a promising industry in the future, require strict regulation as they can be used for various personal crimes including unqualified flight problems. First of all, drone users must obtain a license according to the type of drone in accordance with the Aviation Safety Act, and all commercial flying devices, regardless of weight exceeding 2 kg or weight, must be reported to the Drone Management Office of the Korea Transportation Safety Authority. In addition, the enforcement rules of the Aviation Safety Act include prohibition of dropping objects, prohibition of flying that may pose a risk to human life or property in the sky over a densely populated area, prohibition of flying in a no-fly zone, prohibition of flying at night, prohibition of flying while intoxicated, etc. The prohibition of flying is stipulated as a regulated user compliance requirement.
Drones usually have cameras installed to take pictures of the scenery seen from the sky, but unspecified numbers of people can be photographed, so you should use them with caution about personal information. If a scene with another person's face is uploaded to a social networking service or YouTube without consent, depending on the situation, it may be involved in a lawsuit for damages or defamation under the criminal law due to infringement of the right to portrait. To prevent this, you should try to protect the privacy of others by taking aerial shots rather than close-up shots in public places where there are people.
Advances in science and technology such as information and communication technology (ICT) are also changing the means and aspects of terrorism. In particular, drones, which are widely used for low-cost general use, industrial and military use, have a very high risk of being abused for terrorism against key personnel or important national facilities, as well as invasion of privacy such as illegal filming.
Drones can be used for crime or terrorism in various safety accidents at any time, so it is virtually impossible to prevent existing threats with the legal system alone. Accordingly, when a drone flying in a prohibited place or time zone or an unmanned aerial vehicle operating abnormally is discovered, it is necessary to detect and block it at an early stage. In addition, ordinary citizens who use drones for hobbies such as video shooting are urged to carefully read the contents stipulated in the law and use them safely to protect the lives and privacy of others.
Police and national defense use the face recognition system on drones to search for missing persons and to recognize and intercept terrorists, a national risk factor, are expected to play a major role. As a healthy and developing drone industry is expected in the future, individuals must also follow the rules to avoid infringing on drone flight requirements and privacy of others. There are two key issues in drone legal issues: flight safety issues and invasion of privacy. In this article, we would like to consider improvement measures that can ensure the safe flight of drones, suppress the occurrence of human damage, and effectively prevent invasion of privacy.