http://www.wdrb.com/story/30354128/judge-dismisses-charges-for-man-who-shot-down-drone
There's already precedent around here. Stand yer ground.
Important things to note about that particular case:
1) He wasn't actually charged for shooting at a drone, he was charged for "wanton endangerment" caused by firing his gun within city limits.
2) That was still at the state level, since the FAA wasn't involved as the federal crime yet.
3) The fact that the drone was seen below the treeline by several people helped to classify it as an invasion of privacy, you can sure bet the amazon drones are going to be much higher.
In short, this is a nice precedent for shooting down low-flying drones that are hovering over your property, but pretty worthless as a precedent of you shooting down parcel-laden amazon air drones, and it's still confined to a state-only level, not a federal one.
What about using really long sticks? And how they are going to know whom shot what? Are the drones going to carry cameras all recoding everything all the time? What about nets or traps? It's there a law about trapping a plane with a net? What if people sue Amazon for invasion of property while/if the drones pass over their houses? At which height must the drones fly to be considered not in the property but public air space (if that even exists)? What about the inevitable accidents of drones failing?
1) The exact law uses terms like "intent to disable" and "act of violence", so things like long sticks, nets, and traps are all covered under that blanket.
2) Based off the aforementioned ruling it looks like the current estimate for the "height limit" is "above the treeline", but we will no doubt see more clarifications there. Currently the only FAA limit on drones is that they have to stay
under 500 ft.
3) We're looking at a similar conflict for property trespassing. Current "precedents" for how much air you own above your property go from around 80 feet to 500 feet (which is the current height of drone travel, and the point where the air becomes a public space by law), so who knows how that will go down. I'd be willing to bet Amazon has a very nice legal team prepared to fight it out though.
4) Most drones constantly transmit flight data, so it suddenly going down over your property is a big hint, and when your neighbors all report that the shots were coming from that person's property and you now have a shiny new blender it's a pretty good indication that something was going on.
A lot of drones do also carry cameras as well, which would be another nail in the coffin.
5) For accidents there's still a lot up in the air. Depending on how rulings go we could have anything from a "if it crashed and did damage then you've got to pay for it" to "it's up to the victim to prove you weren't doing your fullest extent to prevent the crash or you don't have to pay". As for the actual drone itself, it differs from area to area, with some saying that the property is yours unless the owner (in this case Amazon) shows up to claim it within a certain period, while others say that you have to turn it in to the government until that period has expired (after which they give it back to you).
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Topic: Things that made you go "WTF?" today o_O (Read 14933022 times)