, where did this happen? After posting an aerial crime scene photo from my neighborhood (showing yellow police tape around a home, nothing more) at our nextdoor.com community forums, I was told in no uncertain terms that doing so was illegal. I had to bite my tongue - and I'm glad I did. Because, as it turns out, in Florida, a law passed last year which does prohibit the use of unmanned aerial platforms to capture photos/video of private property (without WRITTEN consent) if it reveals more than can be seen from the street level.
I posted this over at the Phantompilots website in January after doing the research on the new law:
The way I read statute 934.50, a violation of the statute occurs the moment anyone uses their Phantom to capture video of someone's property with enough clarity to identify the property. The term "surveillance" is identified quite clearly as:
(e) “Surveillance” means:
2.) With respect to privately owned real property,
the observation of such property’s physical improvements with sufficient visual clarity to be able to determine unique identifying features or its occupancy by one or more persons.
Thus, if the house is identifiable, it's being "surveilled". Further, unlike conventional photography that occurs with telescopic lenses, or from a raised platform, or from manned aircraft, if filming from a "drone", the subjects expectation of privacy is different:
(3)(b)...For purposes of this section, a
person is presumed to have a reasonable expectation of privacy on his or her privately owned real property
if he or she is
not observable by persons located at ground level in a place where they have a legal right to be,
regardless of whether he or she is observable from the air with the use of a drone.
If I understand that correctly, someone in their back yard, for example, walking in the open behind their privacy fence, suddenly has legal privacy expectation. If you can see them from the building next door, no privacy is expected, but from a drone, it's a violation.
In other words, you only have an expectation of privacy in your back yard from drones, not from your neighbor who's filming you from his second story window or perched up on a ladder.
The statute does not specify enforcement/punishment, and is therefore not a criminal statute. The only "remedy" it lists is civil action brought by the "victim". Thus, someone would have to prove that your Phantom recorded them without written consent. Of course, with most of us promptly uploading our videos to YouTube, that may not be so difficult.
Since the statute permits prevailing victims to recover punitive damages AND attorney's fees, the Phantom operator could be in for some heavy expenses. Without the wording of recovering attorney's fees, any 'victim' would have a hard time retaining an attorney - as even a victory would likely not cover the expenses in representing their plaintiff. But, now that the law firms are assured compensation (as much as 2x multiplier if taken to verdict) for their legal fees, you get stuff like this:
Florida Passes First Unmanned Drone Law (Morgan & Morgan)
They're openly looking for 'victims'. How long before the "my lawyer got me $400k after my neighbor filmed me in my back yard" commercials start airing?
Thus, to any/all Florida fliers, I would strongly recommend you NOT record your flights if you're capturing private property w/o written consent. And if you do, do NOT post it publicly.
