How to keep drones off your property? Can you legally take them down?

Being a drone owner in a densely populated area will make you take hard decisions in a lot of cases. Drones in general are fairly noisy with their 65-75 decibel noise generation.

On the other hand, the majority of people know that these aircraft are equipped with cameras capable of taking photos or even recording videos.

For many citizens the following question might be almost a daily problem:

How to keep drones off your property?

Drones passing by above your property might be disturbing and in many cases even an invasion of privacy. But keeping them off your property with legal solutions is tricky. At the moment calling the police and filing a legal complaint is the first step. 

I created this article to find out every aspect and the possibilities regarding drones over your property. 

Are drones an invasion of privacy?

Drone owners are required to follow many strict regulations. The FAA in the US has made a lot of laws even regarding recreational drone users.

These quadcopters are getting more and more popular. This fact by itself will generate many new situations that will endanger someone’s health, privacy, or financial state.

One of these unpleasant experiences with drones is the invasion of privacy. 

If the drone pilot is using the device regarding the laws, legally speaking it is not an invasion of privacy. These quadcopters can be annoying even only because of their buzzing noise.

They could seem loud even from a distance of 3-4 meters. For someone who is used to silence, even that can be fairly disturbing.

But the main reason of the article is to find out the main reason for thinking that the presence of these aircraft is an invasion of privacy.

Articles you might want to read: what to do after crashing a drone or drone videos for youtube.

How can a drone be an invasion of privacy?

The majority of drones are equipped with cameras. Even though you can control them by following them with your eyes, almost everyone is using the live view on the phone screen.

In the regulations, it is clearly stated that you need to keep your drone within visual sight. But we all know that these rules are not respected by everyone. 

For a drone pilot, it is more fun to fly further using the maximum capacity of the aircraft. In these situations, you can control your device only with the help of live view.

Similar article: can drones see inside my house? can drones see through curtains?

Because of the cameras mounted on drones a lot of people might feel that they are watched. Many people think (sometimes with a good reason) that these drones crossing their property is also recording videos. 

Even though I’m a drone addict I would not like to be filmed by these aircraft. In many situations I find myself being irritated even by the street photographers or by some random people taking photos of someone.

Simply I don’t like to be recorded when I’m not allowing it.

So, being on your property in the garden or backyard you need can expect to be undisturbed. 

The majority of people don’t like to be watched at home when spending time with family or even being alone.

It is hard to know if a drone flying by above your property is recording a video or not. Proving it is way harder. But the thought by itself can be very annoying. 

What the US legislations are saying about the invasion of privacy by drones:

„A person is liable for physical invasion of privacy when the person knowingly enters onto the land or into the airspace above the land of another person without permission or otherwise commits a trespass to capture any type of visual image, sound recording, etc.”

Source: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov

Almost every possible situation is clearly stated in these laws. But the sad truth is that you almost need to be a lawyer to know every rule and regulation regarding this hobby. 

In a lot of areas even flying a drone is not allowed. Local regulations can prohibit this activity, but at the moment only a few areas have so strict rules.

Can someone fly a drone over my yard?

A lot of people are annoyed only by the presence of drones. Even if they are not filming or taking photos, their noise and cross passing the yard might cause an unpleasant feeling.

But the truth is that drones can fly almost anywhere as long as they are following the rules and regulations of the government. The airspace is owned and regulated by the official organs like the FAA. 

So, even if those drones are using the air space above your yard or house, they are not making any unlawful. As long as the camera is not recording anything they are allowed to be there.

How to legally take down a drone?

Many drone pilots are not respecting even the basic rules of privacy. Being disturbed by the presence of a drone on your property might get frustrating. 

There are several ways of stopping a drone from flying too low, but the majority of them are illegal. In most cases, the law is offering only a single legal solution for individuals who want to stop these aircraft.

If you think that a drone flying above your property and filming you or your family you need to call the police. In many cases, these drone pilots are breaking the law by filming and invading your privacy.

Similar articles: Injuries by drone blades or why are drones so noisy?

Read my following article and you will find out how to detect drones and their pilots

1. Unfortunately, at the moment no law is allowing individuals, property owners to shoot a drone down. 

You might feel tempted to solve this “little problem” for yourself, but using a firearm, in this case, is illegal for several reasons. 

• You may cause an unforeseen fire because of the possible battery explosion

• Firing an arm might put the safety of other people in danger

• Even though they are flying over your private property, by shooting a drone you are damaging someone else’s property. These aircraft might invade your privacy, but their owner could ask for compensation and you might face more serious problems with the law.

2. You can call the police and file a legal complaint

This solution might seem logical and simple. But if you start thinking about it, you can get a little bit skeptical of the efficiency of this possibility.

Calling the police for reporting a drone pilot can be necessary in many cases, but these cases might be very low in their priority.

On the other hand, filing a legal complaint will also face some difficulties. If you are not living in an urban area with only a few drone owners, finding out who the pilot is can become tricky. 

For example, in the village where I’m coming from only 2-3 people have drones. Finding the pilot, in this case, can be fairly easy, but in an urban area might get almost impossible.

3. Net guns are a legal way to stop drones

As more people are using drones, also more people want to stop these aircraft from hovering around their properties.

Net guns are a good solution to fire a net and capture these aircraft around your property. This technology is making it possible to stop a drone without causing major damages to it. 

There is a chance you can harm a propeller or two, but it won’t cause serious financial issues for the pilot.

Keep in mind that even these net guns need to be used accordingly to safety requirements. This way you can avoid causing injuries or financial harm to anyone.

I wanted to mention these tools as a possible solution, but buying one will cost you more than $500.

How to jam a drone signal?

A lot of tools like a jammer can be used to take a drone down. These are disrupting any communication between the drone and the controller.

This is possible by transmitting a large amount of radio beams. 

Unfortunately, these tools can cause interference and interruption of other authorized radio signals too. 

This is the main reason why these tools are illegal to use. On the other hand, a drone without a proper signal from the controller can take unforeseen directions.

Crashing it might cause injuries to other people, or at least damage to the drone itself. As I already mentioned, even though these aircraft can be annoying, damaging someone’s property is still illegal.

FAQ