Kids throwing Stones at Drones

[drakkor]

Flying over my property, I was taking pics of my HOA's pond today, and heard some kids yelling.

Then I heard something hit the side of the house.

The little brats were trying to throw stones at my Mavic Air...WTF?!

When they came closer to the fence, I asked them "Are you kids okay?" Twice.

Translation: stop throwing stones at my drone little (expletive removed)s!

After landing, I realized I had caught a five-shot AEB of the kid throwing the stone.

I then shamed them on Nextdoor - with pictures.

Nice throw, kid!

Looking at the flight logs, I never left my property.

Anyone have any thoughts about this situation?

I think the posting on Nextdoor was actually a great idea ! Glad to know they didn't managed to hit your craft though.

 

[Aussie Oldtimer]

Um, no. I didn't mean or say anything even resembling that.

Chris

sorry but thats how i read it.

you said "
“If only life were actually that simple.
Oh well, there goes my vacation to Australia.”

My read on that is that we have rules that you cant/don’t want to comply with therefore you wont travel here
whats your take on what you said?

 

[baddog]

Flying over my property, I was taking pics of my HOA's pond today, and heard some kids yelling.

Then I heard something hit the side of the house.

The little brats were trying to throw stones at my Mavic Air...WTF?!

When they came closer to the fence, I asked them "Are you kids okay?" Twice.

Translation: stop throwing stones at my drone little (expletive removed)s!

After landing, I realized I had caught a five-shot AEB of the kid throwing the stone.

I then shamed them on Nextdoor - with pictures.

Nice throw, kid!

Looking at the flight logs, I never left my property.

Anyone have any thoughts about this situation?

I think you did the right thing. We were all that old once and we all did really stupid stuff. The only thing I might have done different, is ask the kids if they were interested in learning about drones and how to fly one. Basically make friends with them and they will let all there other friends know that you are the cool guy in the neighborhood.

 

[KEVIN MCGARRY]

Flying over my property, I was taking pics of my HOA's pond today, and heard some kids yelling.

Then I heard something hit the side of the house.

The little brats were trying to throw stones at my Mavic Air...WTF?!

When they came closer to the fence, I asked them "Are you kids okay?" Twice.

Translation: stop throwing stones at my drone little (expletive removed)s!

After landing, I realized I had caught a five-shot AEB of the kid throwing the stone.

I then shamed them on Nextdoor - with pictures.

Nice throw, kid!

Looking at the flight logs, I never left my property.

Anyone have any thoughts about this situation?

You are lucky... if you had been photographing kids where I livr your post would get you locked up. Unless however you had permission from the parents to photograph their children??

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

You are lucky... if you had been photographing kids where I livr your post would get you locked up. Unless however you had permission from the parents to photograph their children??

I wish that, when people say things like this, that they mention the location where such photography is forbidden.

Chris

 

[ChrisOutdoors]

OP, talking to the kids followed by their parents FACE to FACE should have been your first 2 steps. Not posting their photos online onto a public app in hopes that the parents "do the right thing".

To the 2 pages of posters regarding unrelated discussion about HOAs and FAA....start another thread; geez. Derailment, full speed ahead.

 

[FlyGuy8675309]

To the 2 pages of posters regarding unrelated discussion about HOAs and FAA....start another thread; geez. Derailment, full speed ahead.

And who made you Judge Judy and executioner?

 

[b17raymo]

I had similar situation last year with neighbors. I was allowing my daughter to move the drone around a little and they started shooting fireworks at my drone.

 

[Amarand]

OP, talking to the kids followed by their parents FACE to FACE should have been your first 2 steps. Not posting their photos online onto a public app in hopes that the parents "do the right thing".

To the 2 pages of posters regarding unrelated discussion about HOAs and FAA....start another thread; geez. Derailment, full speed ahead.

I don't know the kids. I don't know their names or their parents. Should I ask the kids for their names? We do that at the library where I volunteer, and the kids often lie, then run out of the library.

Also, please be careful using the term "should." If I knew the kids, sure, I would absolutely give them a ring.

The kids are in a public place, performing an illegal act. The Nextdoor app verifies your address, and I limited it to my neighborhood only.

Sharing the pictures of the kids in the act (literally throwing the stone at the drone) was probably more merciful than reporting them to the sheriff, which I would have been within my rights to do as a property owner.

 

[Amarand]

I wish that, when people say things like this, that they mention the location where such photography is forbidden.

Chris

Yeah...it's actually very rare, in places with legal freedom of panorama, like the United States, for there to be any rules about what you can take pictures of in public. Taking pictures is almost always allowed, in the U.S., unless you're in a marked, legally sensitive area, or on private property. For example: if you're in a mall, and they have signs on every door saying "no photography" they can ask you to leave if you use your camera and they catch you, but your photos are your own.

If you go near a nuclear power plant, or a bridge, or a Federal Building, your rights might be limited...but again, that's rare, and the areas surrounding these infrastructure items are generally well-marked, fenced and patrolled.

Taking pictures of children on the pond next to my house is not illegal. They're in public, and I'm literally shooting from the sky over my property. Nothing wrong with that.

The pictures aren't artistic, but it doesn't legally matter. They're in public, I'm on my private property, the laws here are fairly clear about that, luckily.

 

[Amarand]

I had similar situation last year with neighbors. I was allowing my daughter to move the drone around a little and they started shooting fireworks at my drone.

Wow, that sounds super dangerous (kids shooting fireworks at/near anyone or anything). Obviously the drone had nothing to do with the neighbors (illegally) shooting fireworks at something. I'm glad you were giving your daughter an opportunity to move the drone around a little. That's always fun, and builds actual hand-eye coordination.

 

[Amarand]

You are lucky... if you had been photographing kids where I livr your post would get you locked up. Unless however you had permission from the parents to photograph their children??

I have to ask: where do you live, and can you cite the actual law that keeps you from taking photographs of people in public from your own private property? Is it possible you misunderstood the law as it applies to you?

 

[johnmeyer]

In the USA it is obviously legal to take photos in public. Gosh, if that weren't the case, pretty much every person would have their smartphone confiscated.

Here is one of hundreds of legal citations:

Photography and the law - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Wikipedia is not authoritative, of course, but given how it is edited, it is usually pretty accurate on subjects like this.

Once a person of any age is out in public, there is no presumption of privacy. All of us are photographed or video'd almost every moment we are in a public place.

The legal restrictions are not on the taking of the pictures, but on the publication of those photos. I have direct experience with this. As one example, I licensed to Sony Pictures some film my father took in 1968 of cheerleaders on the sidelines at my high school football game. They wanted to use it at the beginning of the Will Smith movie, "Concussion." However, before I could complete the negotiation, I had to track down every cheerleader who was close enough to the camera to be identifiable, and get them to sign a release form. Amazingly (and thankfully) they were all still alive, fifty years later, and all signed the release forms.

Without those releases, Sony would not have been able to use the footage.

 

[Amarand]

In the USA it is obviously legal to take photos in public. Gosh, if that weren't the case, pretty much every person would have their smartphone confiscated.

Here is one of hundreds of legal citations:

Photography and the law - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Wikipedia is not authoritative, of course, but given how it is edited, it is usually pretty accurate on subjects like this.

Once a person of any age is out in public, there is no presumption of privacy. All of us are photographed or video'd almost every moment we are in a public place.

The legal restrictions are not on the taking of the pictures, but on the publication of those photos. I have direct experience with this. As one example, I licensed to Sony Pictures some film my father took in 1968 of cheerleaders on the sidelines at my high school football game. They wanted to use it at the beginning of the Will Smith movie, "Concussion." However, before I could complete the negotiation, I had to track down every cheerleader who was close enough to the camera to be identifiable, and get them to sign a release form. Amazingly (and thankfully) they were all still alive, fifty years later, and all signed the release forms.

Without those releases, Sony would not have been able to use the footage.

Yup, and getting releases for commercial purposes is absolutely necessary. Lawsuits suck.

But for fair use and editorial purposes ("These kids are throwing things at my house/drone.") I'm 100% allowed (in the U.S.) to do that, without a release. I've read a lot of books on this subject, but I'm not a lawyer. But my BS-meter would fire up if someone said it was illegal to take pictures from my own property and then share them (for any lawful purpose, aside from commercial purposes).

 

[johnmeyer]

<snip> ... But my BS-meter would fire up if someone said it was illegal to take pictures from my own property and then share them (for any lawful purpose, aside from commercial purposes).

"Illegal" can mean many things. As you know, there are both criminal and civil laws. I doubt that you would be violating any criminal statutes, but you might very well be committing a tort for which you could be sued. Most civil actions involve harm done by an action which is not itself illegal. What's more, it is often up to a judge or jury to determine whether harm (a tort) has been committed. So if you shame someone publicly by publishing a picture with which that person takes exception, or if your photo in any way harms that person's reputation (or any of dozens of other types of harm), you could be sued.

 

[Amarand]

"Illegal" can mean many things. As you know, there are both criminal and civil laws. I doubt that you would be violating any criminal statutes, but you might very well be committing a tort for which you could be sued. Most civil actions involve harm done by an action which is not itself illegal. What's more, it is often up to a judge or jury to determine whether harm (a tort) has been committed. So if you shame someone publicly by publishing a picture with which that person takes exception, or if your photo in any way harms that person's reputation (or any of dozens of other types of harm), you could be sued.

True. But thankfully the photos (plural) prove that the kids were in the act of committing a crime (throwing rocks at my property [drone/house/fence]) so my guess is, my intent (taking pictures of the pond) is fine. And it’s probably okay to imply that they were throwing rocks, as the evidence (my photos snapped in rapid succession) shows that they were doing this.

You can be sued for just about any reason or no reason. Doesn’t mean it’s a valid lawsuit. ??‍

I could also countersue.

But the next time, and every time, I’ll just call the sheriff and let them deal with them illegally fishing. Done and done.

They keep doing it, the HOA will put a lien against their house. NBD.

 

[Drgnfli]

Your HOA will respond by banning drones! I'm actually shocked they haven't yet.

Darn! I hate it when you are so right!

 

[Mavic-Master88]

I love my drone as much as anyone --- but posting photos of minors on a public-shaming site like Nextdoor (and now Mavic-Pilots) is downright shameful and creepy --- and you could be brought up on charges in certain states for unlawfully posting photos of underage kids without consent from their parents.

Just a heads up so you can avoid jail time.

Also, we need to stop this paranoia of our modern culture and let kids be kids once in awhile. We ALL did stupid stuff as kids, but now the Internet will never let them forget it and that's a crime that we all pay for in the long term. We can't expect a flawed species like H. Sapiens to suddenly become flawless beings from the day we pop out the womb. Let kids make their dumb mistakes and then forgive and forget because that's the beauty of being a kid --- before the nightmare of adulthood settles in and bad actions have lasting consequences.

 

[globetrotterdrone]

We can't expect a flawed species like H. Sapiens to suddenly become flawless beings from the day we pop out the womb. Let kids make their dumb mistakes and then forgive and forget because that's the beauty of being a kid --- before the nightmare of adulthood settles in and bad actions have lasting consequences.

I mostly agree with you on the point, that kids are kids and we all (should) know better today as adults.
The last sentence though is what I personally feel (in my surrounding) seldomly happens - also children need to know, that their actions have consequences. It's not always necessary to take them or to handle them down to the last dot and comma, but they need to get the feeling, that everything they do may cause reactions. Action - reaction.

Often parents unfortunately have not enough time for their minors and in busy times, you sometimes get the impression by 3rd parties, that all you have, are rights, rights, rights. But you have responsibilities too and they are often neglected, because, carefully taught, they need time again.

It's part of learning to grow up too - and most certainly kids don't think about too much what is tomorrow ...
All fair enough, let children be children but slowly engage them, to consider the Golden Rule step by step.

As I am living in good ol' Europe with less online platforms used for everything in your daily life (or maybe that's just me?), I guess the personal approach (if possible) is still key - but not always the easy one.

 

[Amarand]

I love my drone as much as anyone --- but posting photos of minors on a public-shaming site like Nextdoor (and now Mavic-Pilots) is downright shameful and creepy --- and you could be brought up on charges in certain states for unlawfully posting photos of underage kids without consent from their parents.

Just a heads up so you can avoid jail time.

Yikes! Welcome to the forum, by the way.