Idk if anyone had a similar problem before, but I live in EU by the countryside, at first there were only a few but now it happens more and more often to see drones passing over my house, I am sure they are civilian drones because law enforcement has no reason to use them since the area is quiet (and honestly I doubt they would be able to do so), however it bothers me enough to know that there are people who get over the fence and enter my property going to look at what they want, does anyone have any advice on what to do?
I’m not sure for the EU but in the USA the airspace above your private property is public domain and since drones are classified as aircraft they are entitled do fly over your property just as an airplane or helicopter might. When a drone is being used to record and surveillance it depends on local jurisdiction.
There is a reasonable expectation of privacy though. It’s the cameras that make it illegal, not the drone intruding in the first place
That is incorrect on a federal level, your milage may vary with city/country/state laws. Federally in the United States the right to reasonable expectation of privacy does not extend to outside of your house per Hester v. United States, 265 U.S. 57 (1924). The government is allowed to surveil you from public airspace without a warrant per Florida v. Riley, 488 U.S. 445 (1989).
There’s only a reasonable expectation of privacy in private. As the courts have ruled many times, it’s something is visible from the street or from the air, it’s probably not private.
No expectation of privacy from the street, yes, at any elevation, sure. But if youre flying a drone over my property within the private airspace I own, that is trespassing
How far up do you own, I didn’t release anyone owned space above their place.?
Almost. Any drone that weighs more than .55lbs must be registered with the FAA and as part of that it is required to be compliant with RemoteID. RemoteID requires the drone to broadcast both its identification and location of the control station.
If it’s being operated over a home then it will almost certainly have to follow the rules on Operation Over People and those can be quite restrictive, especially for drones that weigh more than .55lbs.
There ARE Federal Rules for this in the United States, drone operators cannot legally fly any type of drone anywhere they want at any time.
That is incorrect… If you actually read the law you are trying to reference you will learn it’s a prohibition on flying over “open-air assemblies of people” and if you read the final rule report (found on the very bottom of the page you linked under resources) on page 128 & 129 you will see how the FAA classifies “open-air assemblies of people”.
While the FAA refused to strictly give a definition, what was provided is enough to construed that private property does not constitute an “open-air assemblies of people”.
This is the first search result that came up for me, and claiming the opposite
That site is full of false claims with zero sources to back up those claims which is pretty funny seeing as that article is claiming to be written by a retired corporate attorney. The site is also chocked full of SEO tricks which is possible why it was the first result that came up for you. For example on 5. the word drone is stealthily a link to another irrelevant article about drone deliveries on a different as sketchy site. Link hiding is a well known trick to gain the system and bump up your page.
In most parts of the EU you’re not allowed to fly over private property.
If I remember the rules correctly you are allowed to fly over private property as long as it isn’t fenced off. You cannot overfly buildings without permission. You can take pictures of private property without permission as long as they don’t contain anything personally identifiable (ie. don’t take pictures of people, but no people is fine).
Actual airplanes must have a hell of a time abiding by that rule then.
Addendum: drone licenses and permits doesn’t allow you to fly over private property or main roads.