As hobby drones continue to proliferate across the United States and commercial applications rise, the rules about drone use remain murky, as do the penalties for downing them if you feel your privacy is being threatened.
So far we have seen a push by the FAA to impose
mandatory drone registration that requires owners of any drone weighing more than 250 grams to ID their aircraft and provide personal contact information so that quick action can be taken in the case of violations. However, this is being done mainly to protect government institutions, federal airspace and of course to address the ubiquitous threat of terrorism.
Meanwhile, a range of penalties has been applied to the few individuals who have managed to bring down drones in both public and private space; from jail time in the case of a man who
took down a drone with his T-shirt at a California beach, to a 65-year-old Pennsylvania woman who
hit her neighbor's drone with a rock, destroying it - she was forced to pay $600 in damages, but was cleared of "criminal mischief." A Kentucky man who took more serious action and
used a shotgun to blast his neighbor's drone out of the sky, was arrested, but also was eventually cleared of criminal mischief and first-degree endangerment.
One case that has still been pending is for New Jersey resident, Russell Percenti.
He was actually the first ever to be arrested for downing a drone and was indicted by a grand jury; he was facing more than 5 years in jail for his use of a shotgun to take down a drone that hovered near his house. Again, "criminal mischief" was the charge, as well as a weapons offense.
It appears that Percenti's 2014 case has finally reached a resolution and might have wider precedent-setting implications.
In a short announcement from the Associated Press,
Percenti has now admitted to the charge of criminal mischief and will escape his lengthy jail sentence in favor of probation.
Perhaps most troubling, is that Percenti still seems to be asserting that "he was trying to protect his family's privacy." However, facing an inordinate length of time for that infraction, he has capitulated and put on the record that it is now an act of criminal mischief to do so.
I certainly don't wish to impugn the moral compass of Mr. Percenti, as it is the justice system and
due process itself where the questions should ultimately lay, but
this certainly would seem to open the door to empowering the State against future citizens who will not abide by this type of threat to their person or property. It would be wise to keep a close eye on how future cases are addressed to see if a new trend emerges.
Have you seen low-flying drones out in public where you live, or flying over your private property? Have you read any other stories of people being arrested for shooting down drones in your state? Please leave details in the comment section.
drones. A drone is a machine that is a robot which mostly flies independent of a pilot and are designed to carry heavy equipment like bombs, missiles, and spy gear. The Navy's latest drone is for example larger than an F-18 Fighter Jet.
This is a drone. Notice the size of the men on the carriers flight deck. Ok, this isn't a toy.
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What the media is calling a drone is really nothing more than toys and that's all they are. Expensive toys at about $700 dollars and with flight times of not more than ten minutes or so. [Link]
The only thing going on here is sheep herding. Herding idiots to support legislation which will control the airways above your own homes so that corporate business like Amazon can use it for their plans.
It isn't to your advantage to jump on the Amazon bandwagon and support the destruction of a toy industry so that Amazon or other corporations can then fly worry free zipping midget sized, but still much larger and therefore much more capable of inflicting damage across the roof of your own frigging houses.
This nonsense about forcing people with toys to buy licences, tax them, put them in jail, have people act like their neighbor with a toy is a pervert spying on them is all a bunch of contrived fake propaganda.
There is no need for any of this nonsense. There are organizations already which control model aircraft. They provide insurance and places to fly model aircraft. What's different now is that we have toys anyone can buy and which take no skill or training to use. Though this only lasts for as long as the tiny batteries hold out. So what big threat are these toys then?