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Citizen complant of the day: Shouldn't have to close the blinds because a drone is hovering outside
By adamg on Thu, 09/26/2019 - 9:36pm
A privacy-deprived citizen files a 311 complaint about the drone hovering outside a residential buildeing at Avery and Washington streets downtown:
A drone with a camera was hovering outside the apartment windows... I took a short video then closed the blinds. When I check a couple minutes later it was gone.
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Comments
I wonder how that drone would
I wonder how that drone would react to a Super-Soaker full of, oh, let's say ordinary water. Or salt water...
Open the window and grab it
with some sort of hook, maybe an umbrella handle?
call the police about a suspicious drone like that
you think it could be a peeping tom, or a stalker, or a burglar.
if it's a building inspector, they can explain to police.
Yeah
I'm sure the police will race right over with their flashers on.
It's not close enough.
It's not close enough.
As my grandma used to say ...
“The things you see when you haven’t got a gun!”
Can't discharge a firearm
Can't discharge a firearm within 500 feet of an occupied dwelling for safety reasons.
But the MGLs are silent about creative falconry.
/just sayin'
This drone
appears to be in the Logan Airport no fly zone.
There isn't an airport no-fly zone as such
but there is a zone within which you need to phone the airport control tower before flying your drone. This location is within the zone.
here's the map
https://faa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=9c2e44067100...
Really?
That's not what the Massport flyer/poster says.
where is this flyer?
Can you link to it (if it is online) or post a photo of it (if it isn't) ?
The signs
I've seen are typically in Eastie and say "No Drone Zone". I haven't seen them in this area, but that doesn't mean they're not there.
Legislation needed
The General Court needs to enact anti-voyeur/trespass/nuisance drone legislation as a few other states have done. It cannot be left to the common law (which is a mess), nor to federal regulation (because the FAA is not interested in the privacy aspect, which really is a state law issue, only safety).
Of course, in this case, even a reasonably written statute might not have mattered if the drone was technically over a public way (tough to tell).
I am curious about what would
I am curious about what would happen if it was shot at with a bb gun.
You'll shoot your eye out
Seriously, you might end up shooting out someone else's window. I wouldn't do this.
Here's a suggestion:
Don't do it! It's too risky. An innocent person or persons could be badly injured.
I know that developers/real
I know that developers/real estate people have been using drones to make marketing videos of their buildings, so it could be for that.
That's intrusive for people
That's intrusive for people who live in the city. Digitally recording prople in the privacy of their private residences through their windows is unethical. Restrict your pervy drone-spying activities to your suburban McMansion properties please.
Respectfully,
the law is pretty clear. If you can be seen through a window from somebody else's property, public or private, EVEN WITH A LENS OR TECHNOLOGY, tough noogies. Close the blinds.
This is true today. It's perfectly legal for your neighbor to aim his telescope at your window and watch to his delight.
The drone doesn't change that, and probably doesn't warrant special legislation.
And I'm no fan of drones.
Absolutely!
One of these was hovering outside my building in the South End a few weeks ago. We smiled and waved at it, then lowered the shade. Big Brother is watching!
That's horrible!
These drones shouldn't be allowed to watch people through their windows. That's crazy.
And in today's xkcd
https://xkcd.com/2208/
Alt-text: "Today's consumers who order their drones off the internet don't know the joy of going out in nature and returning with a drone that you caught yourself, whose angry owners you fought off with your own two hands."
Neighborhood Watch
Professional division.