First thing to say is that I am in no way condoning illegal use of drones.
I was involved in a discussion recently regarding the people that fly drones illegally. Ultimately the discussion centred on enforcement.
If the country you are flying in has a law that says you should not fly closer than 50m from a building and you fly 49m from a building then you are breaking the law. Fly it around a busy international airport and you are also breaking the law (and a complete idiot who should be banned from going anywhere near a drone but we are talking points of law here).
This go me thinking. How practical is it for an enforcement authority to actually prosecute people?
Many drone laws are criminal rather than civil. So the proof for a prosecution is supposed to be "beyond reasonable doubt". Short of catching someone in the act or them posting it online with a title like "flying my drone around the streets of New York" (along with contact information) I wonder how many Government agencies around the World would actually try and pursue people?
Obviously the more serious the offence the more likely they are to try and track down the culprit - I can "imagine" flying your drone around the White House and then following Marine One as it takes off with the President on board is more likely to get a lot of resources spent trying to track you down as opposed to flying 20 feet off the ground in the Grand Canyon with no-one else around.
The issue of "foreigners" doing it adds another level of complexity completely. If a non US citizen flew a drone over say Times Square in New York and then posted the footage online when they got home would the FAA try and do anything?
Even if they did try and prosecute how would they be able to prove who flew the drone to the level needed to achieve a criminal prosecution? Some countries might be willing to co-operate but a lot won't.
As I said at the start of this post I am not condoning law breaking in any way, shape or form. My fear is that eventually those who are willing to break the law will lead to a blanket ban on drones. Of course those people that don't care about the law in the first place will carry on flying until they get bored / caught.
I was involved in a discussion recently regarding the people that fly drones illegally. Ultimately the discussion centred on enforcement.
If the country you are flying in has a law that says you should not fly closer than 50m from a building and you fly 49m from a building then you are breaking the law. Fly it around a busy international airport and you are also breaking the law (and a complete idiot who should be banned from going anywhere near a drone but we are talking points of law here).
This go me thinking. How practical is it for an enforcement authority to actually prosecute people?
Many drone laws are criminal rather than civil. So the proof for a prosecution is supposed to be "beyond reasonable doubt". Short of catching someone in the act or them posting it online with a title like "flying my drone around the streets of New York" (along with contact information) I wonder how many Government agencies around the World would actually try and pursue people?
Obviously the more serious the offence the more likely they are to try and track down the culprit - I can "imagine" flying your drone around the White House and then following Marine One as it takes off with the President on board is more likely to get a lot of resources spent trying to track you down as opposed to flying 20 feet off the ground in the Grand Canyon with no-one else around.
The issue of "foreigners" doing it adds another level of complexity completely. If a non US citizen flew a drone over say Times Square in New York and then posted the footage online when they got home would the FAA try and do anything?
Even if they did try and prosecute how would they be able to prove who flew the drone to the level needed to achieve a criminal prosecution? Some countries might be willing to co-operate but a lot won't.
As I said at the start of this post I am not condoning law breaking in any way, shape or form. My fear is that eventually those who are willing to break the law will lead to a blanket ban on drones. Of course those people that don't care about the law in the first place will carry on flying until they get bored / caught.
