Drones = invasion of privacy

[Wondersense]

In my neighbourhood there is a man who owns a drone. He doesn't fly it often, but on the occasions I've seen him do it, he flies it illegally, over a built up area, over other people's houses.

He works as a volunteer for mountain rescue for a national park and it's very likely he has a very good live feed camera on it. He's used it to snoop on me at least twice, including at night time once where he was flying it close to my upstairs backroom window. I had a very strong, stark light on at the time which would have intrigued someone was able to see it, and I guess this man thought he'd get his drone out and snoop on what I was doing. Usually when I see him fly it, I give him the finger and he usually clears off shortly after that, usually back to his home, so I really think he does have a live feed camera on it. I recently almost reported him to the police and I have camera footage.

I find it frustrating that technology has given men another way to invade the privacy of women. Are there any stats on this issue? Anyone with similar experiences?

I'm already fed up with them ruining the atmosphere of tranquil places in nature. They're a damn nuisance and they ruin the experience of being outdoors for others. Now it seems like they're invading my privacy too??

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.

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.

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.

@Definitelyrandom

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.

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.

@OrangeGeckoWithBlackSpots

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

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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.

I was worried what a person might look like if they were at the minimum legal distance from that drone. It didn't list the camera specifications but this one: www.amazon.co.uk/SIMREX-Positioning-Quadcopter-Altitude-Headless/dp/B07SX1Z9WK?tag=mumsnetforu03-21 is 110° (I'm assuming this angle is diagonally) meaning that, at 50m, a pixel on a 1080p camera is 6.4cm so a 160cm tall person would be 25 pixels tall.

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

@Terralee

Someone in my area has a drone which flies round our back gardens in good weather- very annoying & an invasion of privacy. It sounds like an angry bee.

Hit with garden water hose . They don't like water.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

@OrangeGeckoWithBlackSpots

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.

I'm a millennial and I definitely don't want drones invading my privacy, along with hidden cameras.