Can drones see through windows regardless of whether they're open or closed?

[b87]

I've never operated a drone so I have no idea of their visual capabilities. I've heard different things, but with technology constantly improving I would think they could see through some windows.

By open window I mean a window that has been opened to allow fresh air in - the glass portion is not there, only a screen.

Since video cameras have really good night vision, I would think a drone could see through an open window and record a good amount of detail. I would think it wouldn't be possible to see through a closed window if all the lights were off.

I would think it would be simple to test this myself using a video camera with night vision outside my own windows, but I don't know.

I'm only asking because my disabled adult daughter caught our neighbor using a drone to look into her open second story bedroom window recently after midnight. She was awake and it scared her really bad. It's been nearly four days since then and she's still having anxiety over it and is on edge. We are in a rural area where neighbors can't really see us from their house, it's very private. She used to enjoy leaving her second story windows open and hearing nature sounds at night. Who expects someone to use a drone to look in a second story window? That's just creepy and illegal too. We're both concerned about what the neighbor may have seen (she was wearing her nightgown).

I actually asked this on another drone forum and the mods deleted my post because they thought I was lying. ??? I don't care what respectful drone operators/pilots do. But if you're breaking the law and spying on people and/or harassing them and scaring them in the middle of the night, that's a problem. People like that give drone operators a bad name. Please don't protect those types of people. Please don't protect peeping toms looking into the bedrooms of women.

 

[tstr14]

A drone is nothing more than a flying camera and yes, it can 'see' through a window, open or closed just like any camera can. Today's digital camera have far better range than their film predecessors did and can take some amazing pictures in low light.

Printing here what I would do to a drone and it's pilot if I caught them doing this would get me kicked off the board, so I'll just recommend you contact the police and let them handle the matter.

 

[Max Headroom]

A quick search came up with this -


General laws on flying a drone

Aside from the new rules in the Unmanned Aircraft Regulation and the amended Air Navigation Order, you should also consider the impact of general laws on flying a drone:

• If you intentionally or recklessly hit someone with your drone, you could be liable for battery, which carries both criminal and civil sanctions.
• If you intentionally or recklessly damage someone else’s property with your drone, you could be liable for criminal damage.
• If you fly your drone without exercising a reasonable standard of care and injure someone or damage their property, you could be negligent and liable to compensate the victim for personal injury or damage to property.
• If you fly your drone low over someone’s land without their permission, you could be liable in trespass, even if you do not personally go onto the land (although this is generally a civil rather than a criminal matter).

Further, you should check for any local byelaws restricting the use of drones, such as at take-off or landing.

Prettys

This article considers some of the more substantial changes that have recently come into force with amendments to the underlying Air Navigation Order 2016.

www.prettys.co.uk

 

[tstr14]

A quick search came up with this -


General laws on flying a drone

Aside from the new rules in the Unmanned Aircraft Regulation and the amended Air Navigation Order, you should also consider the impact of general laws on flying a drone:

• If you intentionally or recklessly hit someone with your drone, you could be liable for battery, which carries both criminal and civil sanctions.
• If you intentionally or recklessly damage someone else’s property with your drone, you could be liable for criminal damage.
• If you fly your drone without exercising a reasonable standard of care and injure someone or damage their property, you could be negligent and liable to compensate the victim for personal injury or damage to property.
• If you fly your drone low over someone’s land without their permission, you could be liable in trespass, even if you do not personally go onto the land (although this is generally a civil rather than a criminal matter).

Further, you should check for any local byelaws restricting the use of drones, such as at take-off or landing.

Prettys

This article considers some of the more substantial changes that have recently come into force with amendments to the underlying Air Navigation Order 2016.

www.prettys.co.uk

He's in the US so the laws may be a bit different, but the bottom line is it's wrong morally and legally if done intentionally, which it appear to be.

 

[AeroJ]

First of all, consumer drones don't really have night vision capabilities at all. Some have night video modes but that is only effective when pointing at something that is partially lit, like a town centre from above. Unlikely they could see into a room at night with the lights off unless the drone itself had spotlights.

Enterprise level ones (usually notable for being quite big, loud and heavy) sometimes do have cams that see in darkness, but even those more commonly the FLIR thermal cameras rather than actual night-vision sensors. Those are a lot rarer because they cost so much more than consumer level photo drones.

In the day, drones can only see through windows if they are hovering very close to them and level with them.
From any sort of height, or from a raised position, they mostly appear black in footage, or white where the glass is reflecting the light. It's actually quite hard to find any angle that allows you see anything at all inside rooms.

See exhibit A, taken near to houses from one of my local parks. Every window is black. All I can see is a few curtains and occasionally something very close to a window sill.



The concerning behaviour is the hovering outside the window - no-one has a valid reason to be doing that, and at night how could it appear anything other than menacing ?! So my vote goes to reporting it also. If you see it again, hovering outside that window, you could have a towel ready to throw over it, which will take it down if you are fast enough, but that may not be the wisest course of action in terms of safety etc.

 

[Max Headroom]

He's in the US so the laws may be a bit different, but the bottom line is it's wrong morally and legally if done intentionally, which it appear to be.

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[Cafguy]

I'm only asking because my disabled adult daughter caught our neighbor using a drone to look into her open second story bedroom window recently after midnight. She was awake and it scared her really bad. It's been nearly four days since then and she's still having anxiety over it and is on edge. We are in a rural area where neighbors can't really see us from their house, it's very private. She used to enjoy leaving her second story windows open and hearing nature sounds at night. Who expects someone to use a drone to look in a second story window? That's just creepy and illegal too. We're both concerned about what the neighbor may have seen (she was wearing her nightgown).

I would ask the Police to get involved. Like any Video Camera The Drone would need special expensive equipment for any "Night vision. If indeed the neighbor is trying to film your daughter the authorities would be able to prove that with the Drones data (if its a DJI). If he was not trying to film He either trespassed on your property to fly the drone or flew the drone beyond VLOS when he did his stupid deed. Report him!
We Drone Lovers hate this kind of thing and I can only hope if that pilot is guilty He gets what he deserves.

 

[Max Headroom]

We Drone Lovers hate this kind of thing and I can only hope if that pilot is guilty He gets what he deserves.

Well said Cafguy.

 

[MS Coast]

I'm only asking because my disabled adult daughter caught our neighbor using a drone to look into her open second story bedroom window recently after midnight.

Approximately how far was the drone from the window? How long did it remain?

 

[mavic3usa]

Normally I don't advise anyone to go to the police for any reason; however, if you suspect a crime has been committed and that drone was looking in the window into a private space where there is an expectation of privacy and it was intentional for the purposes of gratification then you may want to take action. The way you describe the situation, it sounds like this is the case especially after dark. While drones can see thru the window for sure, it really don't matter if they saw anything or not, it is still suspect because of the conditions I described earlier. This has happened before, please review this video (not my video, not me):

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[Meta4]

I've never operated a drone so I have no idea of their visual capabilities. I've heard different things, but with technology constantly improving I would think they could see through some windows.

You've got a lot of replies, but none are giving you the basic information you've asked about and some have overactive imaginations.
1. IF someone was flying outside a window at night and the lights in the room were off, all the drone operator would see would blackness.
Drones do not have a "magic" ability to see in the dark.
2. Post #9 asked an important question.
How far was the drone from the window?
To see any detail inside a lit room, the drone would have to be quite close, because most drones have very wideangle lenses. These make the subject appear further away.

If the lights were out, the flyer would see nothing.
If the room was lit, unless the drone was closer than about 25 feet, the flyer could see no real detail.
At that distance, the drone's noise and flashing lights would be very obvious.

 

[GFields]

Another example is why drone pilots get a bad rap. I hope they catch the peson and prosecute

 

[Max Headroom]

I'm only asking because my disabled adult daughter caught our neighbour using a drone to look into her open second story bedroom window recently after midnight. She was awake and it scared her really bad.

We are in a rural area where neighbours can't really see us from their house, it's very private.

Having re-read your post could i ask how your daughter knew it was your neighbour using the drone it could have been anyone?
(you said she caught them above)

 

[anotherlab]

I've never operated a drone so I have no idea of their visual capabilities. I've heard different things, but with technology constantly improving I would think they could see through some windows.

By open window I mean a window that has been opened to allow fresh air in - the glass portion is not there, only a screen.

Since video cameras have really good night vision, I would think a drone could see through an open window and record a good amount of detail. I would think it wouldn't be possible to see through a closed window if all the lights were off.

I would think it would be simple to test this myself using a video camera with night vision outside my own windows, but I don't know.

I'm only asking because my disabled adult daughter caught our neighbor using a drone to look into her open second story bedroom window recently after midnight. She was awake and it scared her really bad. It's been nearly four days since then and she's still having anxiety over it and is on edge. We are in a rural area where neighbors can't really see us from their house, it's very private. She used to enjoy leaving her second story windows open and hearing nature sounds at night. Who expects someone to use a drone to look in a second story window? That's just creepy and illegal too. We're both concerned about what the neighbor may have seen (she was wearing her nightgown).

I actually asked this on another drone forum and the mods deleted my post because they thought I was lying. ??? I don't care what respectful drone operators/pilots do. But if you're breaking the law and spying on people and/or harassing them and scaring them in the middle of the night, that's a problem. People like that give drone operators a bad name. Please don't protect those types of people. Please don't protect peeping toms looking into the bedrooms of women.

Call the police and have your daughter file a complaint. It doesn't matter if it was a drone or not, it's an invasion of her privacy. I don't know if the police would or could get a search warrant to pull the memory card from the drone.

Do you know or have a reasonable suspicion for which neighbor it could be?

After filing the police report, your daughter could contact a local TV station to see if they want to do a story about it.

 

[SethB]

Privacy laws are at the state level. Here in Oregon the first step would be to contact local police or county sheriff with an invasion of privacy complaint. Trespass is generally much more ambiguous and open to interpretation as there is tangled federal and state jurisdiction with seemingly contradictory provisions.

Looking at your state’s privacy law might help!

 

[mavic3usa]

Whether or not the drone can see inside or how close to the window....respectfully....is not going to do much to help the case. Something tells me "I didn't see anything" or "I was 25 feet from the bathroom window, so I was far enough away that I couldn't make out anything more than just a shape"....I'm really hoping no one is suggesting this might mitigate the gravity of this situation. Because it could mean going thru the "logs" and frankly, there's nothing in any of the statutes that refer to this as an exception.

In order to get a search warrant, you need probable cause which means something like a positive ID or a confession or hey....remote ID maybe? I think it has to be a little bit more than the drone took off in that direction or last month I saw this same drone and last week, I saw my neighbor flying this same model drone. Perhaps it was a unique color or other eyewitnesses around the neighborhood saw something. Not trying to defend this guy but everyone who sees a drone has a privacy concern with the drone pilot and the 4th Amendment doesn't allow the authorities to search a memory card to see if you might have committed a crime especially if that flight happened earlier than sooner. "I'm almost certain this [guy] has committed this [crime] and if I secure the memory card, it will show [this evidence]" is what you need.

Or...and I probably shouldn't mention this because it might upset some people here...you can use the old fashion techniques and get his drone because after all, it's the right thing to do and it's what the entire neighborhood wants.

 

[Meta4]

Or...and I probably shouldn't mention this because it might upset some people here...you can use the old fashion techniques and get his drone because after all, it's the right thing to do and it's what the entire neighborhood wants.

You are correct ... you shouldn't because is bad advice.

 

[MS Coast]

Whether or not the drone can see inside or how close to the window....respectfully....is not going to do much to help the case. Something tells me "I didn't see anything" or "I was 25 feet from the bathroom window, so I was far enough away that I couldn't make out anything more than just a shape"....I'm really hoping no one is suggesting this might mitigate the gravity of this situation. Because it could mean going thru the "logs" and frankly, there's nothing in any of the statutes that refer to this as an exception.

I raised the issue of the drone's proximity to the window as a point of clarifying the incident being discussed. Though I'm not suggesting it's happening here, I've heard reports and read about reports of people saying that a drone was overhead and spying on them when the drone was 100 yards away.

Police officers investigating such a complaint, would almost certainly ask, "Where was the drone?" and "How long was it there?"

 

[MS Coast]

You are correct ... you shouldn't because is bad advice.

It's very bad advice, particularly on a day when another individual apparently saw fit to ignore the law and common sense and attempt to remove a candidate from the presidential election. Vigilantism is never a wise move.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Honestly, I'm shocked by this thread.

Not because of the alleged incident, but rather because members that have vociferously argued against my POV that the state can regulate what you do with a camera mounted on a drone by shouting "constitutional rights!", insisting that only the FAA has jurisdiction over drone operations, and insisting that if a Nikon with a long lens from across the street can legally look through that window, a drone can too.

If any of you somewhere in those multiple arguments over the months has asserted some proximity limit that makes this illegal, I missed it.

Wow...