Drone flying can be a good hobby, and when used properly, it can produce awesome video and photo content. But what occurs when a drone starts to cause a problem?
Are drones spying on you something that worries you? Drones endanger privacy and security. By hovering outside your building, drones can be used to spy on private property. How to stop drones from flying over your home?
You can prevent nearby drones from flying over your home or other structure by using the steps listed below! Keep reading!
Table of Contents
Current Drone Laws Surrounding Privacy
Regarding flying over properties and what constitutes someone’s land, the drone laws in the United States are still somewhat “gray.” According to traditional British common law, a landowner owned everything above and below their plot of land. Thus, your neighbor would have the right to fly their drone over their property.
However, in order to help safeguard people and the aircraft in our skies, the FAA had to intervene in response to the changing times and develop new regulations. The smaller UAVs used for recreational flying, which is typically what you’ll see your neighbor doing, are not typically covered by the new legislation.
State and federal laws are expected to change in the future, and in some places, they already have provisions that address drone use. In Florida, if it is determined that someone’s reasonable expectation of privacy has been violated, drone surveillance is illegal. Additionally, you can record someone on your drone without their permission in California.
Is It Legal For A Neighbor Fly A Drone Over My House?
The short answer is yes.
Currently, the FAA is in charge of all the airspace directly above your house. However, it’s interesting to note that anything below 400 feet is regarded as uncontrolled airspace. As long as your neighbor is below 400 feet and not violating any privacy laws by hovering below the treetops, they are legally permitted to fly their drone over your house.
Why Is A Drone Flying Over My Home?
A drone may be circling your home for a variety of reasons. Firstly, you need to accurately determine whether the drone is really over your house or not.
If it is, in most cases, it’s likely just a neighbor playing with their new toy in the garden so it’s always worth having a chat with them. It won’t take you long to figure out why they are flying their drone over your home. If you think your privacy is being violated, you can raise any issues and request that they stop. They probably had no idea they were upsetting anyone, to be honest.
You May Also Like: When Was The First Drone Made?
How To Stop Drones From Flying Over Your Home?
1. Use Anti-drone Jammers
There are ways to jam a drone signal if you’re looking for a more stealthy solution to physical interception to prevent alien drones from flying over your house. One approach to this problem is to use the Anti-UAV Defense System (AUDS). It operates by looking for drones in the sky and jamming their control signals with strong radio signals.
Similar to this, the Anti-drone Rifle interferes with the radio signals used by drone controls. It currently has a range of over 1,300 feet but can shoot even further. But it is crucial to obtain legal authorization before installing these systems, as using radar jammers in residential areas may be against the law if not used for a valid reason.
2. Launch Counter Drone
Having a drone nearby can help you catch any rogue drones that are trespassing on your property. You and your family members can learn how to use a variety of techniques and procedures that will help intercept unwanted drones thanks to a number of apps and courses.
The C-UAS techniques were among those that were initially created by the U.S. military for use against adversaries.
3. Hijacking Drones
Similar to computers and laptops, drones can never be completely secure or 100% hijack-proof. You should consider this risk before making a drone purchase. The vulnerability of hijacking can always be used against you.
It is reasonable to assume that the majority of drones made for consumers can be easily hijacked using a number of methods. In order to preserve peace, if you discover an alien drone spying on you over your home, use hijacking techniques to interfere with the drone’s signal and take advantage of its weaknesses to shoot it out of the sky.
4. Use GPS Spoofers
When a drone needs to communicate with GPS satellites to navigate, GPS spoofers assist in replacing those signals with new ones. This way, the drone hovering over your house is “spoofed” into thinking that it is somewhere else.
The spoofer can be used to control and change the position of the drone by dynamically changing the GPS coordinates in real time. Once you have control of the drone, you can release it far from your home in a secure location.
5. Get A Drone Detection System
A crowdfunding campaign for the creation of the Drone Shield was launched a few years ago by a team of academics and computer scientists. With the aid of a microphone, it was able to pick up frequencies that aren’t even audible to humans, allowing it to locate the drones.
You will receive a quick notification on your device if a drone is present after the frequencies are recorded and compared to common noises. There are many commercial-grade drone detection systems on the market, but none are designed for single homes.
6. Get In Touch With Neighbor
Like with any other bothersome behavior, you should first inform your neighbor and hear their side of the story. Reach out to them and kindly request that they not fly drones over your property, even just for fun. Indicate flying in public areas or parks.
Due to the lack of a fence separating your homes, it’s possible that the neighbor was unaware that they had been stepping onto your property. Just give them a chance to explain, as most neighbors become less bothersome when properly questioned.
7. Know Your Laws & Rights
- Privacy Cause of Action for Personal Nuisance
If your neighbor refuses to respond to your calls or emails or complies with your requests to fly drones over your house, this law will apply. Personal annoyance is a legal claim that you could make in court. In this, you can file a lawsuit to stop the drone from disturbing your peace with its whirring blades or engine noise.
- Private Cause of Action for Trespass
You immediately have air rights enclosing the peak of your property as the drone has been flying over your property or on the boundaries touching your neighbors’ homes. Every county has a different set of rules. However, if you can show the judge that drones were flying over your property through photographs, you may be able to prove that the flight constituted a trespass.
- Private Cause of Action for Invasion of Privacy
Drones with cameras and video recording capabilities are the most hazardous. These cameras might be effective because they allow for sneaking into the neighbor’s home and keeping an eye on the people and their behavior without even going there in person. It has been a major issue, and many nations have passed drone laws that address it with new laws about drone privacy. It turns into a privacy invasion, and the judge may issue a restraining order against the neighbor or the drone.
- Restricted Damages from Private Causes of Action
When the use of a drone only results in annoyance or trespassing, it may still be excused or resolved with a fine imposed by a court for violating the law, but when it results in a breach of contract or property damage, there are serious penalties. It may be very quantifiable and result in a number of legal issues that the judge will need to address.
What Can We Do If A Drone Is Over Your House?
If a drone is flying over your property, the drone pilot isn’t actually breaking any laws unless they are obviously using their drone to spy on you and to be honest, the majority of recreational drone users aren’t flying their drone with that intention.
This does not, however, imply that you should end the conversation immediately. especially if you are bothered by it.
Our number one piece of advice is to politely talk to your neighbor and ask if they can stop flying the drone overhead.
If this doesn’t work you can reach out to your local homeowner’s association to see if there are any local restrictions regarding flying drones over houses.
Next up, you can consider taking a look at your official property boundaries. If you have photographic proof, you can file a complaint with the local authorities if the drone is flying within the designated boundaries at a low altitude.
If things are continuously getting worse you can allege that the drone operator is causing a nuisance or is invading privacy. In these situations, if the court rules in your favor, you might be able to obtain an injunction against the drone owner to stop them from flying their drone over your house in the future.
Thankfully, most problems are solved before they reach this stage because the majority of people are simply unaware that their actions are upsetting others.
FAQs
Do Drones Invade Personal Space?
Generally speaking, we don’t believe that drones are an invasion of privacy when they’re used as they should. Even so, we understand that there are many worries about drone misuse, and it is unfortunate that sometimes drones are used for eavesdropping on people.
Do I Have Ownership Over The Air Above My Home?
Not anymore. The FAA owns the airspace above your home. However, anything below 400 feet is regarded as “uncontrolled airspace,” making it somewhat of a “free for all” area for drones.
How Visible Is Your House To Drones?
This depends on the type of drone. The majority of recreational drones can’t, and even if they do, they would need to be blatantly placed in front of a window to be able to see into your home, which would put the drone’s owner in clear violation of privacy laws.
Thermal imaging technology may allow some more advanced commercial-grade or military drones to see through your house. However, it would be extremely uncommon for your neighbor to possess something of this nature, and if they did, they would be in violation of privacy laws if they were using it to spy on you.
Is It Forbidden To Destroy A Drone?
Yes. Drones are currently treated equally by the FAA to regular, commercial, or private aircraft. Therefore, according to the Aircraft Sabotage Act, if you take down a drone you’re breaking federal law and could face jail time of up to 20 years. Additionally, if you threaten a drone or a drone owner, you’d also be committing a federal crime and could face up to five years in prison.
Furthermore, the use of firearms may constitute what’s known as “criminal mischief” depending on the county and state in which you reside. Self-defense won’t be taken into account as a valid justification for taking down a drone.
If you take down a drone, not only do you face federal lawsuits, but you could also face a myriad of civil suits too due to the destruction of property.
Federal law forbids jamming drone signal transmissions.
Related Reading: Can I Shoot Down A Drone?
The Bottom Line
Many people are worried about how drones might affect their privacy. Yes, there are a few techniques for stopping a drone. You can prevent drones from flying over your home by using these effective defense strategies.
However, they are more appropriate for the military or large organizations rather than for private citizens looking to secure their homes.
When flying their drones in the neighborhood, drone owners should keep in mind the aforementioned things.
