Wonder why some people are suspicions of DRONES?

[NorbertG59]

I’m driving home and vivid for what I heard on a National Radio LBC about a so called Drone operator
I have seen him on YouTube and quite frankly I think that people like him gives us a bad name. He rang LBC regarding a phone in about emergency services, he starts by saying that people waste police time and so on, the radio host asked him to be more specific and he goes on to say that people call police on him when his using a drone while filming buildings, the host asked what type of buildings he then went on to say Police Stations, Government Buildings and Big companies like banks and so on
The radio host then said that flying over Police station and Government buildings is Weird and he is only asking for trouble.
Due to people like him the Drone Rules and regulations are as strict and I fear will get stricter were further bans on flying a sub 250gr

It just infuriates me when I and most of us that fly under guide lines and then you get those with their faces covered that set out to provoke people and the authorities using a Drone!!!!

 

[Cafguy]

I have seen these guys on youtube These are akin to those people going around courthouses and post offices filming simply to get a reaction from security or others who may be simply misinformed about someones rights when filming there. These guys have no regard for the rights they say they are trying to protect. They just want to antagonize someone to get a reaction -Very stupid if you ask me

 

[NorbertG59]

I have seen these guys on youtube These are akin to those people going around courthouses and post offices filming simply to get a reaction from security or others who may be simply misinformed about someones rights when filming there. These guys have no regard for the rights they say they are trying to protect. They just want to antagonize someone to get a reaction -Very stupid if you ask me

couldn't agree more!!

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Yep, they call themselves "auditors" and the UK has quite few on YouTube.
Like influencers, they seem to have no real purpose in life but to self serve.

I watched a few some years ago, but found myself almost embarrassed by their stupid actions and interactions in and around public buildings, large company properties etc, they love using drones to overfly and annoy people deliberately to provoke a response.
Stopped watching those quiet fast as they are certainly antagonists.

The strange thing is the comments on YouTube, usually "good on you * for setting them straight", that sort of thing, just as curious is the audience stupidity.

Like you say, they fly over legally, but frustratingly annoyingly, and this may well end up contributing to yet more bans on flight over property etc, which may well be legal at the moment.

 

[old man mavic]

these so called auditors are only a problem ,as far as they portray the use of the drones they fly ,in a negative manner
the police have become a lot more educated, about where a particular weight of drone can be flown,because of the fact that there are many so called auditors now on media platforms,
so in attempting to create a negative reaction from companies to drones ,that they use to fly over because they can ,they have actually made it easier to fly the sub 250g class of drone ,i am not in any way condoning what they do ,but if they didnt get all the likes and reaction's,that they receive then they would soon get fed up and move onto something else
unfortunately this thread in itself ,just gives them a platform

 

[NorbertG59]

Yep, they call themselves "auditors" and the UK has quite few on YouTube.
Like influencers, they seem to have no real purpose in life but to self serve.

I watched a few some years ago, but found myself almost embarrassed by their stupid actions and interactions in and around public buildings, large company properties etc, they love using drones to overfly and annoy people deliberately to provoke a response.
Stopped watching those quiet fast as they are certainly antagonists.

The strange thing is the comments on YouTube, usually "good on you * for setting them straight", that sort of thing, just as curious is the audience stupidity.

Like you say, they fly over legally, but frustratingly annoyingly, and this may well end up contributing to yet more bans on flight over property etc, which may well be legal at the moment.

Like you, I too started watching them and to be honest i really thought that they were educating people on Drones but the penny dropped when I watched more and more of the videos antagonizing the authorities and people in general, I refuse to watch any of that now! But today driving home i Could not believe that on National Radio one came on making a right *** of himself, People listening to him must think that all drone operators are the same!!!!

 

[NorbertG59]

these so called auditors are only a problem ,as far as they portray the use of the drones they fly ,in a negative manner
the police have become a lot more educated, about where a particular weight of drone can be flown,because of the fact that there are many so called auditors now on media platforms,
so in attempting to create a negative reaction from companies to drones ,that they use to fly over because they can ,they have actually made it easier to fly the sub 250g class of drone ,i am not in any way condoning what they do ,but if they didnt get all the likes and reaction's,that they receive then they would soon get fed up and move onto something else
unfortunately this thread in itself ,just gives them a platform

I would have to agree to disagree!
although they show that a sub 250gr can be flown anywhere but covering your face also provoking reactions and confrontations from Police and members of the public is what gives us a bad name.
Reason I opened this discussion was because of the reactions of some LBC Listeners said about the guy and drones and Yes i firmly believe they do a lot more harm then good regarding Drones and operators

 

[Cafguy]

I would like to Add that it these Auditors WHOLE attitude about "Informing" is wrong.
I have been doing this for a little bit now I have Flown company properties I have flown places where I wouldn't dream of being able too when I started doing this.-- The thing is I might have every right in the world to film where I am filming BUT I also have a responsibility to those I will be flying around. I have never just walked up to a place and put my drone in the air, I will always inform someone I am there and actually I get an appointment to fly Mostly. (so as to alleviate any concerns). Working with all the non-drone people you have to deal with is key to being a good drone pilot.

 

[old man mavic]

the point i was trying to make was the whole idea of what they do,is based on the premiss of being able to film anything that they can see from a public area
the drone is just another camera ,and they use it because the law says they can
they walk around with multiple devices to capture images ,and provoke a reaction from others
as far as i am concerned ,they are not a part of the drone community ,and a lot of them get a very good income from what they post on the internet
the platforms dont care about the content of what they show, as long as it gets exposure
the drone is the innocent victim in these videos ,and i do agree that it portrays drones and drone flyers in a negative way in many of them
drones can be used in many ways to inform ,and with the right qualifications in place,and a real understanding ,of the consequence's,that a unexpected issue that happened during a flight, would have on those people and property below where the drone was flying ,can be safely flown
with some simple steps put in place
finally it is an inevitable fact ,that because of their actions,it will probably mean that changes will be made to the open category ,and these will impact on how and where the rest of us can fly our drones in the future

 

[Mikero]

They exist to antagonise the authorities and are a dangerous group of people who are self centred and lawless. The sooner they start prosecuting them and confiscating their equipment, the better for law abiding drone pilots like myself.
There was a guy pretending to be flying a drone over Whitehaven Police Station. He wasn't actually flying anything at all. He just had a controller and was stood in front of the station eventually getting the attention of the police. He stood there arguing the toss over whether or not he was committing an offence. The police should have just punched him in the face, that's what I'd have done. Total idiot. (Rant over).

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

The sooner they start prosecuting them and confiscating their equipment, the better for law abiding drone pilots like myself.

For what though ?
That's the trouble, they are pushing the boundaries of legal operation, most often staying on the legal side.
Having law enforcement and property owners etc coming out to confront them when they are within the law (or they think they are) is why they do this, to provoke that response and then "put them in their place".

Auditing authorities, and even private enterprise apparently, is something that needs to be done Yeah riiiight.

I would have thought though that the way they fly over some buildings, workplaces etc, they might bend the rules a bit far sometimes, authorities should be very closely monitoring that aspect of their videos.

Don't get me wrong . . . sometimes authority needs to be accountable for overbearing, authoritarian type behaviour, but in the main these auditors videos and behaviour are not in that spirit.

 

[zxcflyer]

I heard about these people that drive slowly through the town, watching, sometimes even filming. I don't understand, what's their purpose and I strongly disaprove. People get suspicious of us, motorists. They give us bad name. We should unite against them.

- Yeah, driving slowly through the town is weird, even if it's not illegal. Don't get me wrong, it may be a harmless passtime, or they may be looking for some specific address or bussiness premises, but overall I think police needs to crack down on them.

- That's right they are just provoking normal people, setting them against US on purpose. It just infuriates me when I and most of us drive under GUIDE LINES and then you get those that set out to provoke people and the authorities using a car!!!! We need to mobilize against them.

-They exist to antagonise the authorities and are a dangerous group of people who are self centred and LAWLESS. The sooner they start prosecuting them and confiscating their equipment, the better for law abiding car drivers like myself.

...

 

[finity]

I heard about these people that drive slowly through the town, watching, sometimes even filming. I don't understand, what's their purpose and I strongly disaprove. People get suspicious of us, motorists. They give us bad name. We should unite against them.

- Yeah, driving slowly through the town is weird, even if it's not illegal. Don't get me wrong, it may be a harmless passtime, or they may be looking for some specific address or bussiness premises, but overall I think police needs to crack down on them.

- That's right they are just provoking normal people, setting them against US on purpose. It just infuriates me when I and most of us drive under GUIDE LINES and then you get those that set out to provoke people and the authorities using a car!!!! We need to mobilize against them.

-They exist to antagonise the authorities and are a dangerous group of people who are self centred and LAWLESS. The sooner they start prosecuting them and confiscating their equipment, the better for law abiding car drivers like myself.

...

I take your point but the analogy fails when you consider that car /drivers are ubiquitous and drones (or even just people standing on the sidewalk filming random people while trying hard to get noticed) are fairly rare. It's just easier to notice the drones/filmers and disregard the cars (but then if drones were as common as cars then we would all likely be way less happy about it and the skies would be constantly full so we would need drone traffic controls. )

Then when you add the obnoxiousness factor in it gets even worse.

I think that someone would have a similar reaction if the car driver was driving by really slow and had a camera pointed out the window and intentionally kept the camera pointed at every person they passed as they drove by.

It's not necessarily the "act" it's the obnoxiousness of the act that's the issue.

the motto is "don't be a jerk".

 

[anotherlab]

...the motto is "don't be a jerk".

A motto for just about everything.

 

[bitsbytes]

They exist to antagonise the authorities and are a dangerous group of people who are self centred and lawless.

The purpose of an audit isn't to "antagonise" or be "dangerous", it's to AUDIT the authorities' reactions to make sure that they are following the law. That's what the word "audit" means. With regard to being lawless, most of the UK auditors I have seen obey the CAA rules fully.

The sooner they start prosecuting them and confiscating their equipment, the better for law abiding drone pilots like myself.

In order to prosecute someone or confiscate their items, a crime must first be committed. What makes you believe that auditors who fly drones are any more or less obedient of the laws then the average drone pilot?

There was a guy pretending to be flying a drone over Whitehaven Police Station. He wasn't actually flying anything at all. He just had a controller and was stood in front of the station eventually getting the attention of the police.

None of those things are illegal?

The police should have just punched him in the face, that's what I'd have done.

It's not a great idea to threaten to punch people in the face, as that is an actual crime. If you think it's appropriate to assault people for engaging in a legal activity, you may want to speak to a attorney and a doctor.

 

[zxcflyer]

Confiscate? Punch? Now and again you can meet these arrogant aggressive types who dream of engaging in some kind of lynch or wish that police would do it instead.

 

[Felix le Chat]

I've watched a couple of these 'auditor' videos posted by some bloke who mainly operates in the UK Midlands. While it is true that he did know more about the rules and regs than every one of the coppers he ended up making look foolish: he was so patronising, sarcastic and belittling with whoever he confronted that you can guarantee the next person they encounter who is trying to legitimately fly their drone will get a knee-jerk aggressive response instead of a reasonable question.
The only thing 'auditors' add to the drone flying experience for all the rest of us is another group of people in addition to the existing Kevin's and Karen's who will consciously make the drone hobby increasingly difficult for people who just want to mind their own business and enjoy aerial photography.

 

[kidroc]

I have seen these guys on youtube These are akin to those people going around courthouses and post offices filming simply to get a reaction from security or others who may be simply misinformed about someones rights when filming there. These guys have no regard for the rights they say they are trying to protect. They just want to antagonize someone to get a reaction -Very stupid if you ask me

The Ole First Amendment folks sure can stir the pot!!

 

[DARKSeifer]

There's a middle ground between leaving the drone on the shelf and fly like the self entitled auditors.

Don't comply with everything, but don't be a tool and use your brain.

 

[lookout]

I heard about these people that drive slowly through the town, watching, sometimes even filming. I don't understand, what's their purpose and I strongly disaprove. People get suspicious of us, motorists. They give us bad name. We should unite against them.

- Yeah, driving slowly through the town is weird, even if it's not illegal. Don't get me wrong, it may be a harmless passtime, or they may be looking for some specific address or bussiness premises, but overall I think police needs to crack down on them.

- That's right they are just provoking normal people, setting them against US on purpose. It just infuriates me when I and most of us drive under GUIDE LINES and then you get those that set out to provoke people and the authorities using a car!!!! We need to mobilize against them.

-They exist to antagonise the authorities and are a dangerous group of people who are self centred and LAWLESS. The sooner they start prosecuting them and confiscating their equipment, the better for law abiding car drivers like myself.

...

I can't find this place.