From an FAA perspective, as long as you take off and land from public property or private property with permission, you are legal to fly. As a news photographer, the standard for photography of a private property is that we can photograph anything that can reasonably see without aid from public property. If we can stand in the street and see something in the window, fair game. If we can only see something using a telephoto lens, that is risky. Flying a drone over public property is less risky, flying up to the front door or over somebody’s back yard more risky. Then you compare photography using a drone vs a helicopter. Our television station uses a chopper with a zoom lens to record newsworthy activity behind privacy fences. I have not heard of a challenge in court of this activity, but there would be a problem if we took pictures of somebody sunbathing nude next to their pool. There will be challenges to drone photography in the future, and a lot of this will depend on intent. News photography may have one set of standards, commercial photographers another and hobby flights yet another. Here in Texas, the only stipulation in the law is “no surveillance ,” but the definition of what that really means has yet to be determined.