Drone view of the neighborhood from last weekend.

[MossRoad]

Loud buzzing drone taking pictures over a house for 10 minutes looking for human activity outside only, not knowing if anyone is in the house or not....

Criminals don't want to attract attention to themselves.

It more like:
DING DONG - Avon calling.... no one answers the door, they kick it in

As for privacy issues... google earth has you covered... literally. Local governments are using it to look for building activity without permits, un-taxed boats parked in back yards, etc...

What stops someone from looking at your property from their property? If you claim you own the air 500' above your house that means you agree the neighbor owns the air 500' above his house. So if you can look at his house he can look at your house. If you can stand on your roof and glance at his house, he can stand on his roof and glance at yours. I doubt one of you on this board can tell me that at least once in your life, while being up on your roof, you didn't take just a quick moment to just look around the neighborhood. And I'm sure more than a few of you got an eye-full once in your life of something you wouldn't have seen on the ground. :laughing:

So if you own 500' up, I own 500' up and I can fly a drone 500 feet up and take a look around. If you don't like that, cover your pot crop better, get a building permit, and put some clothes on! :thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

I think those drones are pretty cool, but I'm digging the idea of getting myself a powered paraglider and taking myself up low and slow!

Those used to be quite popular around here. One of the drawbacks is they can be quite loud to others. My monther-in-law went for a ride in one for her 70th birthday. She had a blast! Of course, around here all you see is cornfields and meth labs, not that scenery.

 

[Jim Shooz]

Read an inquiry from an Ozzie who was interested in programming one to check his fencelines and also on his sheep during lambing. I gather he had quite a few acres.

Here's a view you could never get except from a drone.

https://youtu.be/a9KZ3jgbbmI

 

[Garandman]

I'm sure the freedom killers in the MA legislature and elsewhere are using as-yet undemonstrated privacy concerns to come up with all kinds of new laws to make us criminals as we speak.

What if the drone operators are casing a place see if anyone is home and find out there has been no activity for days because the owners are on vacation. They then break in and rob the place. What if they are checking out what the neighbors own so they can target them?

Invasion of privacy in my opinion.

Oh, so criminals spending $1,000+ to buy a drone, learning to fly it, setting up at a location near the targeted house and taking video of the outside of a house are a big problem where you live? Sounds industrious. Around here most daytime housebreaks are by junkies looking for a quick score and they don't even force entry: they look for an open door or window. Or follow package delivery vans around.

I've never even seen a drone operating anywhere in Boston, though there are plenty of videos on youtube.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I seriously doubt the drone was 250 feet high. That would be a heck of a shot with a shotgun.

My sediments exactly. I have shot pheasant at an estimated 40 yards, but I was using copper clad #5 magnums. I have heard of 80 yard shots, but they were the product of an imaginative key board.

 

[TomSeller]

Loud buzzing drone taking pictures over a house for 10 minutes looking for human activity outside only, not knowing if anyone is in the house or not....

Criminals don't want to attract attention to themselves.

It more like:
DING DONG - Avon calling.... no one answers the door, they kick it in

As for privacy issues... google earth has you covered... literally. Local governments are using it to look for building activity without permits, un-taxed boats parked in back yards, etc...

What stops someone from looking at your property from their property? If you claim you own the air 500' above your house that means you agree the neighbor owns the air 500' above his house. So if you can look at his house he can look at your house. If you can stand on your roof and glance at his house, he can stand on his roof and glance at yours. I doubt one of you on this board can tell me that at least once in your life, while being up on your roof, you didn't take just a quick moment to just look around the neighborhood. And I'm sure more than a few of you got an eye-full once in your life of something you wouldn't have seen on the ground. :laughing:

So if you own 500' up, I own 500' up and I can fly a drone 500 feet up and take a look around. If you don't like that, cover your pot crop better, get a building permit, and put some clothes on! :thumbsup:

Why do you want to look that close at other people's property? If someone wants to check out their own property with a drone, that sounds like a great use. Combined with the powerful cameras on these drones, flying 400 or 500' and looking down isn't much different than peeping in someone's window. The drones don't stay 400 or 500', from what I've observed they often fly a little above the trees. Standing on your roof and looking over my property is not anything like you flying a drone 50' over my back yard. You have no business doing that and it is a violation of the 4th amendment in my book. Violating constitutional amendments is a slippery slope.

Here is a question for the group. If your drone fails somehow and lands on my property, who owns it and do you have a right to come get it?

What will be interesting is if technology develops the ability for me to capture and control a drone that is flying over a geo fence I create over my property and 500' up.

 

[Garandman]

If someone crashed their car into your house (which probably happens 1,000 times more often) do you get to keep the car?

I am planning on overflying the property of others when and if I get a drone. Although it is largely unpopulated and it will be at an unobtrusive altitude.

We are building a rifle range and I realized that if I had a drone I could overfly the range fan and insure that there were no camps or homes in it before we set the final direction of the firing lane. I've done that with google maps already but the images appear to be two years old. No doubt someone here will take offense, because internet.

No doubt legislators are using such concerns already to pass more laws instead of citizens just walking over and asking their neighbors to stop being a ******.

 

[TomSeller]

I think those drones are pretty cool, but I'm digging the idea of getting myself a powered paraglider and taking myself up low and slow!

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOjwnwwxptI

At least you get the thrill of actually flying that way. They stay up much higher than the drones I have seen for safety reasons.

 

[TomSeller]

We are building a rifle range and I realized that if I had a drone I could overfly the range fan and insure that there were no camps or homes in it before we set the final direction of the firing lane. .

Why don't you just buy enough property with a hillside so you don't shoot onto someone else's or public property? What if after you land your drone someone camps in range and you shoot them? Using 2 year old google maps for gun safety? Really?

 

[IslandTractor]

Check this out:

http://youtu.be/xqHrTtvFFIs

Won't be long before drones are hunting other drones