Are Drones An Infringement Of Privacy?

Are Drones an Infringement of Privacy? A drone or UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) is an unmanned aircraft or ship that can navigate autonomously without human control or beyond line of sight. The first use of drones goes back to 1849, when Australians attacked Venice with unmanned balloons with explosives on board. The United States military has been using UAV’s since World War One to spy and drop bombs behind enemy lines; however drones have made a more recent appearance in the civilian world, often asking the question, “Are they recording me?” Drones have a variety of uses. They can be used for topological surveying, aerial views of land, games, construction sites, life guards on beaches use the to throw a buoy at a distressed swimmers, or
The neighbor refused to pay for the drone despite saying that he shot it. He also stated that he thought it was taking pictures of his property and family. A local Judge sided with Mr. Joe and ruled in his favor. The ruling was that the neighbor that shot it had to pay 850 dollars to replace the drone. (Neagle) In this case, the neighbor felt like his privacy was being invaded and decided to take invasive action. Unfortunately for him, the FAA defines a drone as an aircraft and he may face up to twenty years in prison. In this case, I think that if the neighbor went and talked to the owner, it would have had a better outcome. I can relate to the neighbor though because he felt that he was being recorded. In a situation I was in, my friend came to my house at night (I was unaware) and decided to fly his drone outside my window as a joke. I was upset at first, but when I realized who it was, I calmed down. It left me wondering what I would have done if someone I didn’t know was in their house, being “peeping
The author of this article points out that different drones can do different pictures and recordings. Some can take just a snapshot, where others can take video recordings for hours on end. At what point does it become an invasion of privacy? There is not a black or white line between a picture and a video recording.(K.K.) The author also paraphrases a statement made in a 2012 case by Justice Sonia Sotomayor “Incremental observations by the government may not violate a person’s privacy, but the sum total do. It’s the difference between a snapshot and an overhead video that shows the comings and goings of everybody in a city over the course of a week.” She goes on to state that the pattern is called a “pattern of