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Swedish Administrative Court Bans Drones With Cameras (abc.net.au)
An anonymous reader writes: The ruling of the Swedish administrative courts forbids anyone to fly a drone equipped with a camera as long as its not "... to document crime or prevent accidents...". They also rule that there is no exception for the ban for commercial use or in journalistic purposes. According to the court the issue with the drones is that is not "controlled locally"
The ban could cause a great problems for the drone industry within Sweden and the UAS Sweden has taken a stand against the ruling because of how it "... strikes against an entire industry that employs thousands of employees."
The ban could cause a great problems for the drone industry within Sweden and the UAS Sweden has taken a stand against the ruling because of how it "... strikes against an entire industry that employs thousands of employees."
I can't wait for all the wailing and teeth-grinding by self-entitled assholes who spend a sizeable amount of cash to harass their neighbourhood with what they thought impunity for their own amusement. Commence the crying!
Swede here, and my father used to fly drones to take aerial photographs.
In general: The reason to require a surveillance permit is to limit the amount of filming of places to which the pubic has access.
You are allowed to film/photograph such spaces if you are actually holding the camera. However, you need to apply to "Länsstyrelsen" for a surveillance permit if you want to mount a camera to film an area that the public can access. So I am not allowed to mount a camera in my apartment that films my motorcycle on the street. I would be allowed to film my motorcyle if it was on my yard and the scene being captured on the film did not include the street.
A dashcam, is here considered to fall under the case of you actually holding the camera, so no surveilance permit is needed.
Flying a drone is not considered as if you are holding the camera. If you could fly in such a way that you only film your property, it would be allowed.
- This is a link to Q&A:s on the topic from The Swedish Data Protection Authority, In Swedish though. http://www.datainspektionen.se/lagar-och-regler/kameraovervakningslagen/fragor-svar-om-kameraovervakningslagen/