Restricting Drone Usage With Sexual Predators

doitvoluntarily (77)in #technology • 7 years ago (edited)

Residents in Florida are looking to pass a new bill that will ban sex predators from using drones. Specifically, the bill which is referred to as SB1122, stipulates that the use or operation of a drone by certain offenders, for the purpose of viewing or recording an image of any minor, will be prohibited.

The bill was filed by Florida Sen. Dorothy Hukill.

One mother from Venice, Florida, says that she became worried after she noticed a drone flying over her property and she believes that the owner of that drone might have been spying on her young daughter. After she saw the drone a few times flying over her pool, where her daughter and friends frequently spend time, she went to Facebook to let her neighbors know and she found out that they also had the same concerns.

But not everyone is pleased about the bill, some have called it a bit excessive and they can't see the appeal to any predator to use a drone for the purposes of spying on children at parks, beaches, or pools etc.

The FAA is still working with implementing a number of changes surrounding drones and their usage.

Sightings of drones have dramatically increased in the last few years as their popularity has surged. They get dozens of reports every single month about worrisome activity with drones. They certainly don't seem to be very popular with pilots. For now, it still isn't clear whether or not a person can legally fly a drone over private property; but there are clearly residents pushing for legislation in this area.

This bill isn't going to ban sexual predators from purchasing the drones outright, but it will prohibit their actions of choosing to use that drone to film record a minor; they could be charged with a felony.

SB1122 lays out certain specified locations pertaining to the ban, and they include: a minor's home, at a business, school, child care facility, park, playground, or other place where you could expect that any children might regularly congregate.

The discussion of whether or not drones should be allowed to fly over private property has been going on for some time now. And legal experts have debated either side of the argument. One side says that private property includes about 500 feet of air that extends up from your home, and that you should reasonably be able to assume some level of privacy here. Also, if this is the case then they have the right to decide whether or not a drone can fly there.

The other side of the argument disagrees, and they think that decisions about where drones can fly should be made collectively and not by the individual landowner. But what is really in disagreement is what constitutes private property and whether or not the space above your property should be included.

Should homeowners have a reasonable expectation of privacy?

As it stands today, if someone runs through your property with a drone and it's below the FAA reserved airspace, then it is considered to be trespassing. And Florida isn't the only state that has been looking to pass rules restricting the usage of drones. Another bill in Texas that was proposed, was seeking to make it a misdemeanor to use a drone in order to take an image of someone on their property without their consent. But most of these efforts have been heavily centered around trying to keep law enforcement from wrongfully using drones, rather than certain criminals from using them for specific purposes.

As drones become further implemented within our society, there will be further discussion surrounding the topic of their usage. And no doubt there will also be much more legislation introduced in an effort to try and control the activity surrounding them. Will it help though? What do you think? Share your comments below.