Bad drone Behavior

MacPhersonCa1 · Nov 24, 2017

DJinCleveland said:
I disagree. If he believes you were following his wife around and he fired a gun at your property, he’s not your friend. Avoid this man

He understands that it was wrong now, and i looked at my flight records and showed him that i was not intentionally spying on him (getting pics of sunrise).

LasVegasPilot · Nov 25, 2017

Well I for one think that showing him the flight log completely rectifies this little "spy on my wife , shoot at an aircraft " situation....

HVYMTL · Nov 25, 2017

Just putting this out there.. anytime I am in my house doing activities I don’t want others to see, we simply close these things we call curtains. They prevent people or cameras from seeing inside the room.. a little bit of effort can go a long ways to protect your privacy.

pixl · Nov 25, 2017

HVYMTL said:
Just putting this out there.. anytime I am in my house doing activities I don’t want others to see, we simply close these things we call curtains. They prevent people or cameras from seeing inside the room.. a little bit of effort can go a long ways to protect your privacy.

There is a legal term: "reasonable expectancy of privacy". It applies to this entire thread, though has nothing to do with vigilantism or guns. The basic tenet of the law is that you have this expectation in your own home or rented space so long as you are not viewable from public space. This means that you cannot have this expectation of privacy on your front lawn, or even from ground floor windows unless the viewer is achieving their view through mechanical assistance -- ie a ladder, telescope or a drone.

People, in public spaces, have no reasonable expectation of privacy, despite what they may think. You can take another person's picture for non-commercial use anytime you want as long as they are in public places ie the street, park, etc. The same also applies to their children. As creepy as that sounds, it's also legally allowed.

I live in a second storey condo. All of my windows face places that are not public, and nobody can see into my apartment from anywhere public (I also overlook a small cliff). My entire apartment and balcony has a reasonable expectation of privacy. I don't need curtains. The law is on my side. BUT, if I lived on the bottom floor on the other side of the building, I couldn't make that claim.

In the OP, the people that took the picture had their reasonable expectation of privacy infringed upon. The way to deal with this is to call the police. In legal terms, gunplay is a far worse infraction.

The person whose drone was fired upon was legally in the right of course, even if he was photographing the woman, as long as she was in a public place -- ie no reasonable expectation of privacy. But there are laws, and there are actions. Unfortunately, in small communities we sometimes just have to back down -- even if we're legally right. When you're likely to run into someone every day, sometimes you have to do what keeps the peace.

Endeavor · Nov 25, 2017

Well let's look at this from a different angle. It's not illegal for someone to stand on the sidewalk in front of your house and stare at your windows. Perhaps this person is just admiring your home. It's not illegal for someone to be sitting poolside and staring at people or sitting on a bench at the mall people watching. But the line gets crossed when the nose is pressed up against the glass.
As far as the drone which way was it facing? It could have been someone on a balcony getting a shot of the sunset as it may have been facing away from the building. There are a lot of if's here.
personally I would close the curtains as helicopters can also legally fly by and do all the time. Don't tell me we need to shoot them down?

pixl · Nov 25, 2017

Endeavor said:
Well let's look at this from a different angle. It's not illegal for someone to stand on the sidewalk in front of your house and stare at your windows. Perhaps this person is just admiring your home. It's not illegal for someone to be sitting poolside and staring at people or sitting on a bench at the mall people watching. But the line gets crossed when the nose is pressed up against the glass.
As far as the drone which way was it facing? It could have been someone on a balcony getting a shot of the sunset as it may have been facing away from the building. There are a lot of if's here.
personally I would close the curtains as helicopters can also legally fly by and do all the time. Don't tell me we need to shoot them down?

When you speak of "the line", are you citing a law, or just your own feelings/opinions?

MacPhersonCa1 · Nov 25, 2017

As far as the drone which way was it facing?
It was facing towards the sunrise. The camera was full up, and i was slightly to the left of his property. the only way I could have spied on him is with my camera pointed all the way down.

locoman · Nov 25, 2017

Wrong title to this thread. Should read "Bad drone Operator behavior".

MacPhersonCa1 · Nov 25, 2017

locoman said:
Wrong title to this thread. Should read "Bad drone Operator behavior".

Why?

locoman · Nov 25, 2017

Because it wasnt the drone that was behaving badly, it was it's operator.

MacPhersonCa1 · Nov 25, 2017

locoman said:
Because it wasnt the drone that was behaving badly, it was it's operator.

Which operator were you referring to?

MacPhersonCa1 · Nov 25, 2017

MacPhersonCa1 said:
Which operator were you referring to?

1. I was not invading his privacy.
2. I was not on or above his property
3. he had just returned from a trip and was tired.
4. he now knows that I was not intending to be invasive.

tcope · Nov 25, 2017

It's not a Mavic, it's not a DJI product. DJI products have green lights in the back. If this drone follows that same rule, it's racing away from the window. I can't tell what kind of drone it is to check this.

warlock 31 · Nov 25, 2017

FearlessRobb said:
Now am i the only one that sees greena lights? Im prpbably wrong but i thought the front was red lights and the rear was green so in this pic its facing away from the building? Im not saying he wasnt looking in Windows but sadley this pic isnt proof

Then why did it Fly Away immediately after he made a gesture. I agree that our lights are green in the back and red in the front maybe this one's different

warlock 31 · Nov 25, 2017

Rokitt69 said:
What really gives the bad name is the percentage of speculation. How do you know he wasn't looking in his own window?

Really wow

warlock 31 · Nov 25, 2017

Call I can say is fly safe and use your head

MacPhersonCa1 · Nov 25, 2017

tcope said:
It's not a Mavic, it's not a DJI product. DJI products have green lights in the back. If this drone follows that same rule, it's racing away from the window. I can't tell what kind of drone it is to check this.

Is it a GoPro Karma?

warlock 31 said:
Then why did it Fly Away immediately after he made a gesture. I agree that our lights are green in the back and red in the front maybe this one's different

I am thinking it is a GoPro Karma I could be wrong

MacPhersonCa1 · Nov 25, 2017

warlock 31 said:
Call I can say is fly safe and use your head

SO TRUE!!!

tcope · Nov 25, 2017

MacPhersonCa1 said:
Is it a GoPro Karma?

I am thinking it is a GoPro Karma I could be wrong

Not if it was in the air long enough to get a photo of it!

HighlandsVideo · Nov 26, 2017

I wish people would understand that what they fear with regard to peeping by drones simply isn't possible and therefore a non issue.

I've been a photographer for decades and I know it to be impossible to take a picture through a window, except when there is more light inside than there is outside, and that is not possible in the day time.

Even at night, the drone would have to be within inches of the glass for any great detail to be photographed within. Not even perverts are likely to go such extremes just to see you.

I can't help but wonder what horribly despicable things are people doing that they're so violently afraid someone might photograph with their drone.