Drones = invasion of privacy

You know that bit in Thelma and Louise when they blow up the disgusting man's truck? That's rather how I feel about drones used to spy on women. No wonder that film was so popular.

Perhaps if we had more women in the cabinet, especially the more able ones in the Conservative Party, then matters such as this might be taken seriously.

So enough to be able to say "ooo-errr, boobs!" which I expect is the intellectual level of some teenage boys. Do I have to say NATABALT (though it sometimes seems they all are). I remember my teenage brothers walking to the end of the Spanish beach we were on to "get some exercise" aka known as visiting the topless part of the beach. Now they don't even have to get off their arses.

I know there are laws here around model aeroplanes on beaches and in parks. I expect they could be applied to drones purely on safety grounds, regardless of the cameras.

From the Amazon listing it appears they can see proper video footage from miles away!

It did make me sceptical because I know my 1080p security camera can't pick out a face at half that distance.

Though the kids here are definitely not sticking to the legal distance. They are swooping below gable height, so 7 or 8 metres possibly?

Even without a camera, I would be greatly unhappy about the prospect of being hit by the blades (my concern with the racers). It seems like, at 8m, the resolving power (what I'd call it with a microscope camera) is 1cm/pixel, which looks roughly like this.

That's a bit comforting Gronky. From the Amazon listing it appears they can see proper video footage from miles away!

Though the kids here are definitely not sticking to the legal distance. They are swooping below gable height, so 7 or 8 metres possibly?

They seem to think they are like the old radio controlled helicopters, but with cameras. I think kids these days are so used to being constantly photographed and videoed that they don't even think about the fact that old farts like me value our privacy. It's only since lockdown I have managed video calls.

This doesn't discount lawbreakers but I'm now less worried about what one hovering 50m above my garden might see.

Buy the best laser you can afford and shine it at the drone

Careful - I think you can get into trouble doing that if you are near any sort of flightpath.

And yes, I have had a neighbour with a drone that he used to fly over my back garden. That garden was enclosed and I have a skin condition that is improved with sunlight so I used to sit topless out there on warm and sunny days. I had to stop doing that.

There was a fairly high spec drone being flown over gardens (illegally) a couple of years ago by one of the neighbours who was also a Youtuber. My son just took his air rifle out into the garden and we haven’t seen it since. Not a solution available to everyone, of course.

The thing is that technology is developing faster than the law, and new and inventive ways for people (men) to use them for sexually motivated purposes that overwhelmingly affect women are not a priority.

Upskirting only just got banned Fgs. A teacher who was upskirting his female students was let off because it was technically no crime.

In South Korea voyeurism is such an issue that phones have to make a sound when they take a pic. Meanwhile spycams get smaller and smaller and are readily available on the net disguised as things that wouldn't look out of place in a toilet or changing room. Women have committed suicide after pics have gone on the net. There have been big marches about it.

Meanwhile in the UK what could the police actually do? There is no way of being certain whose it is. That it has a camera on it. That it was looking at you. It's in the sky. How can anyone say for sure it was up to no good and how can the police investigate.

The propesity of people (men) to be creepy and voyeuristic is well known, at least to women. And now they have all these marvellous new tools.

I have no idea what can actually be done to prevent it apart from somehow changing men so they are less likely to do this sort of thing.

It always makes me remember a film I saw at secondary school, porkies. The boys drilled holes in the wall to see the girls getting changed. This was supposed to be funny. I'm sure I remember similar themes in lots of other telly. We need to get away from the idea that well this is just what some men and boys do and and somehow alter the mindset.

I had no idea they were so cheap. The kids yesterday had something like this, though theirs looked bigger.

www.amazon.co.uk/4DRC-Foldable-Altitude-Trajectory-Batteries/dp/B088P42WL8/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=drone+with+camera&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1598653649&sr=8-7

They are marketed for adults and kids - there is a life feed and they can hover. I'm actually quite upset to think that teenagers can spy on back gardens and bedroom windows.

There are some good legitimate uses for drones but I can't see why they're on sale to the general public, given the nuisance and scope for voyeurism etc.

www.caa.co.uk/Consumers/Unmanned-aircraft/General-guidance/Reporting-misuse-of-a-unmanned-aircraft-and-drones/

Police enforcement, but here are the Civil Aviation Authority's rules, including:

unless the remote pilot has permission from the CAA, he or she should not be flying a camera equipped unmanned aircraft within 150m of a ‘congested area’ (e.g. town or city) or at a public event

The definition of a congested area in relation to a city, town or settlement means:

'Congested Area’ in relation to a city, town or settlement, means any area which is substantially used for residential, industrial, commercial or recreational purposes

When the pilot does have permission from the CAA, such flights are usually restricted to flight distances no closer than 50m from people, vehicles and structures that are not ‘under the control’ of the pilot.

These restrictions mean that the use of a unmanned aircraft in public places is limited and often not suitable or legal unless the operator has received the appropriate permission from the CAA.

So, effectively, these voyeurs need to stay 50m away from others. Film them back. Call the police.

I hope your chosen solution works out. In terms of working with the police, since the law is apparently at least 50m from your property a laser tape measure might help in establishing if he's too close. I have a very cheap one off ebay. It works outdoors and has a tripod screw in the base but I've never tried to measure a moving object.

I post on the local Facebook groups when there is one over our area. There is one guy on there who has a licence and uses them for his business so he helps clarify the laws.

I also mention safeguarding. They tend to stop quite soon after I post.

If it is made clear where it comes from and a post added about it being illegal you could give that a try, also mention it spying through your windows. Bad publicity seems to work for us, it might for you too.

It’s fairly random, goes weeks without coming.
MRTs tend to have FB pages, look on their and see if you can work out which team he’s with.

YY to any new tech seeming v quickly to be used in various ways that aren't good for women.

Not sure what can be done tbh.

And past drones, police officer was found to be flying helicopter for work and hovering to get a look at sunbathing women. FFS.

I had a group of teenagers call to my door yesterday looking for a drone that they said had possibly fallen in my back garden (it hadn't).

I'm not impressed - I should be able to sit in my back garden in my knickers if I want to. It's not overlooked by any windows, but obviously completely visible to drones.

Apparently this one was a birthday present for a 14 year old .

You’re not allowed to lose eyesight of your own drone, so if you think he has then report him. But I agree, it’s frustrating and I don’t like them.

When I was in labour with my first dc, I was in the delivery room (2nd floor) and a drone kept coming to the window. It was horrible, there were no blinds on the window as the room was high up and also overlooked trees so I guess the hospital didn't think it necessary.
Horrible

I’d also report him to the mountain rescue team if you know which team. They may not be able to do anything but embarrassing him to colleagues might make him think twice.

There’s a drone which flies round our village in the small hours and hovers outside peoples bedroom windows. The police do seem to be taking it seriously but haven’t worked out who owns it yet.