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Kentucky's Shotgun 'Drone Slayer' Gets Sued Again (yahoo.com)
"Technology has surpassed the law..." argues a Kentucky man who fired a shotgun at a drone last year. An anonymous Slashdot reader reports:
The drone's owner has now filed for damages in Federal Court over the loss of his $1,800 drone, arguing that the shotgun blast was unjustified because his drone wasn't actually trespassing or invading anyone's privacy. The defendant -- who has dubbed himself 'the Drone Slayer' -- said the aerial vehicle was over his garden and his daughter, and the verdict could ultimately set a new precedent in U.S. law: who owns the air?
"Operators need to know where they can fly," argued the drone pilot's lawyer, "and owners must know when they can reasonably expect privacy and be free of prying eyes." He estimates a drone is shot from he skies about once a month, and "What happens typically is that law enforcement doesn't know what to do and civil suits are uncommon as most people don't want to get involved due to the costs."
The Drone Slayer was originally charged with felony counts of wanton endangerment and criminal mischief. But all of those charges were dismissed in October when a district judge ruled he "had a right to shoot at the aircraft."
"Operators need to know where they can fly," argued the drone pilot's lawyer, "and owners must know when they can reasonably expect privacy and be free of prying eyes." He estimates a drone is shot from he skies about once a month, and "What happens typically is that law enforcement doesn't know what to do and civil suits are uncommon as most people don't want to get involved due to the costs."
The Drone Slayer was originally charged with felony counts of wanton endangerment and criminal mischief. But all of those charges were dismissed in October when a district judge ruled he "had a right to shoot at the aircraft."
How about if the drone is vertically close enough to your private property that you CAN succesfully shoot it, then its too close and doing so is allowed. (Excluding sniper rifles)
"and owners must know when they can reasonably expect privacy and be free of prying eyes."
Lawyer acts like he's doing a fucking public service. What a crusader for truth and justice. How about - AT ALL TIMES when I'm home, fucker. Hah, it's not like he cares, he's getting paid either way.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I'm with the man shooting the drones. Fuck off outside of the city with that shit or into a park. Anyone can say they aren't spying with their drones, including those who spy; and drones are becoming more and more dangerous as cartels and gangs are starting to use them.
You didn't see me running an RC car and my chopper all over the fucking city when i was a kid, i had the decency to keep that shit in-house, in the garden, or in a park.
I'm not sure how you can argue it was not invading privacy when it was downed with a shotgun. The maximum effective range is around 75 yards and you can pretty much shoot at people 300 yards away and pose no danger (do not do this obviously). If the wreckage was examined you could know roughly how close it was to the shotgun without resorting to any telemetry from the drone captured prior to it being downed.
While the law may be somewhat incomplete, you are an asshole if you fly a drone close people or their dwelling on their property. Get permission from the property owner first, it seems to be the ease of use of drones and the entitled attitudes some few people have ruined it for everyone and make new laws necessary.
Drone advocates can act as clueless as they wish but it is already established what we own. Up to 500ft. If building a structure less than 500 ft (Actually this was amended to 499) you need no clearance from the FAA. There is so much precedent on this that no ignorance can be taken seriously. Weather towers over less than 500ft are provided some guidance by the FAA but the FAA states this is only a helpful guideline to assist in safety for cropdusters. This feigned cluelessness by drone advocates is the same as all the cluelessness we have seen when some established rules are suddenly questioned just because the internet is involved. It's 500 ft. Ownership is a somewhat improper term. Property rights is a better term. You have the right to build unimpeded to 500 ft. Beyond this you need special clearance. This rude and boorish posturing by drone advocates would have us believe that you could build a foundation on your property then cantilever one foot off the ground such that the rest of the building was almost entirely over your neighbor's property. Pure and obvious rubbish from the drone operators.
Is he speeding in your yard? Parked illegally in your daughters favourite suntanning spot? Didn't think so.
Was he sued before?
There's a fundamental difference between these so called drones and RC planes or choppers. Drone operators aren't interested in "piloting" . The sole purpose of flying a drone is to take videos or photos and once that's the intention it changes the whole flight.
I used to do aerial photography and video with my RC plane. The flight intention changes once you slap on a camera. Take the go pro off the drones and see how many would still fly it for the pleasure of flight. None.
Well, the law disagrees with you. It doesn't, however, work like people here think it does. There isn't a line in the sky saying "this far, no farther". It depends on the nature and intent of the intrusion.
For example I've flown in a helicopter belonging to the Florida Keys Mosquito Control district. Those spray jockeys' job is to lay down pesticide on hard to reach places, particularly the first place a mosquito might light after crossing between islands which is likely to be a line of mangroves or bushes. They're accustomed to flying *low*. En route between Stock Island and Marathon Key we flew so low over peoples' houses I could certainly have told what magazines they left out by the pool -- if we hadn't been going over 100 mph. It's just normal business for those guys, and they're not targeting those homeowners in any way. But if we'd hovered over his house to ogle his teenage daughter, that would be an intrusion, apart from the epic noise.
This isn't really different from privacy law in general: context and intent matter. If someone is standing behind you at the ATM, that's not necessarily breach of privacy; but if they are doing it to look over your shoulder that's different. If your neighbor looks at the back of your house, it's normal. If he sits in his tree trying to peer through your back windows, it's not.
One of the landmark cases in privacy was Nader v.General Motors Corp. where GM retaliated against Nader for writing unkind things about its cars by hiring private investigators to dig up dirt and intimidate Nader. One of the things they did to intimidate him was to follow him around all day, often openly following him a few feet behind as he went about his business so he'd know he was being constantly watched. The court ruled this was an invasion of privacy. Sure the PIs had a right to be in the places they went, but they didn't have a right to be there doing what they were doing.
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The drone's owner has now filed for damages in Federal Court over the loss of his $1,800 drone, arguing that the shotgun blast was unjustified because his drone wasn't actually trespassing or invading anyone's privacy.
The Drone Slayer was originally charged with felony counts of wanton endangerment and criminal mischief. But all of those charges were dismissed in October when a district judge ruled he "had a right to shoot at the aircraft."
It's true the Federal government has sole jurisdiction over US airspace, but that only applies to airspace above 499 feet. Furthermore, Causby v United States states that a landowner's domain extends at least up to 385 feet in rural areas.
The root problem here IS NOT whether or not you can shoot aircraft, or where you should be able to fly drones, but whether or not it is legal to be a belligerent asshole. Even if the drone was over the shooter's property, was he in immediate danger? Doubtful. Would shooting it be effective way to protect himself if he was? About as effective as shooting the tires of a car headed for you. So then the only real thing he did was piss off his neighbour. That's not the way civilized adults should be handling their problems. Just like it was inappropriate for my neighbour to introduce himself by assaulting me and causing thousands in property damage, because he claimed my mufflered motorcycle was too loud and that's how asshole's solve their problems. INSTEAD we could try having a conversation about it. Then maybe I'd gear up instead of down everytime I drove by from then on, or flown my drone elsewhere instead of suing.
I used to do aerial photography and video with my RC plane. The flight intention changes once you slap on a camera. Take the go pro off the drones and see how many would still fly it for the pleasure of flight. None.
It's funny how you stereotype people who enjoy something extremely similar to what you do. There's plenty of people who enjoy drone flight for the sole purpose of flying, though the camera remains an integral part of the experience since it allows you to see your drone's movement from the first person. There's even drone agility competitions which are all about maneuvering drones on extremely difficult courses, not filming. Drones just have the ability to also take beautiful shots from high on up, but that's not necessarily their sole purpose.
The answer to the federal question is easy. Get a few of these drones flying over the White House and see if anybody complains. Done.
The FAA has already designated a 30-mile-wide circle around the White House as a No Fly Zone - with serious penalties if you operate there. Bad example. You are not "done."
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
I totally agree on the fpv aspect. If you're flying and not hovering in people's back yard ;)
Yes, the pilot claimed 200 feet - but that's past the effective 40 yard range of most shotguns. And how accurate is that telemetry?
Then he should have checked with the other neighbors to see if it was ok, or at least so they would know he was taking pictures of his friends house and not looking for houses to break into. Seems the pilot got a $1800 lesson in common courtesy.
Depending on the camera's zoom, you could take either a wide shot of someone's house, or be trying to get a closeup of someone's window.
Fpv has been here for a long time. Why do you think this privacy thing just came out now?
It's the wrong intent that makes the real drone users look bad. My friend uses them to video shoot real estate for sale. And went through the right channels to get permission to hover in a residential area.
There are many fun things that we want to do. But it affects other people's feelings and that's why we don't do them. I would love to hover in people's backyard in fpv too but I don't do it because it invades people backyard. Not even privacy. Just the same as I don't sit on people's porch and have a smoke.
Good luck with the orientation of a DJI without camera then ;)
Them city folks just said its ok fer ussin to be shootin up all them low flyin aeroplanes. Turns out them city-slickers been peepin out them windows into yonder bathroom window while grampa's a-poopin.
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