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Low flying drone. - Headley Road resident (1st Jun 2023 - 15:26:24) Over the last few weeks/months there has been a drone flying low over our back garden causing some distress for my family. Is there any laws against flying a drone low over someone’s garden as I’m guessing there’s privacy issues and obviously safety concerns should it fall and hurt someone. Our garden backs on to Tower Close not too far from the retirement complex at the end of Tower Road. Any advice/guidance would be much appreciated as it is causing some distress for our family and we are too sure is it a matter for the police or where to go or what to do to resolve the concern.

Re: Low flying drone. - Bush (1st Jun 2023 - 17:13:44) A slingshot? Get it online

Re: Low flying drone. - Nick (1st Jun 2023 - 17:44:08) If you fly your drone low over someone’s land without their permission, you could be liable in trespass, even if you do not personally go onto the land (although this is generally a civil rather than a criminal matter). So far as data protection law is concerned, if your drone has a camera, you should consider the impact of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on the collection of footage using the device.

Re: Low flying drone. - Sam (1st Jun 2023 - 22:51:20) Why are you taking about Data Protection?? What has Data protection got to do with this? It’s not got anything remotely to do with data protection? You might as well have answered that it’s all got to do with the law of the sea or consumer rights

Re: Low flying drone. - Nick (2nd Jun 2023 - 08:30:59) Hi Sam, PRIVACY. Using a drone to film someone without their consent could land you in breach of privacy and data legislation. Make sure you obtain releases from anyone that you film, particularly anyone who was on their own private land when you filmed them. I’m guessing that no one has approached the Headley Road resident to gain consent? Is flying drones over peoples private gardens and homes the modern day version of being a “Peeping Tom”. Placing aside the law it is not very neighbourly but actually down right rude and intrusive to film someone in the privacy of their own garden without their knowledge. And again there is the safety concern with regards an object following and injuring someone from the drone.

Re: Low flying drone. - er (2nd Jun 2023 - 09:41:27) GDPR doesn't apply to private individuals only commercial enterprises. Flying a light drone (sub 250 grammes) over residential or any other property is lawful subject to very basic flying safety rules, larger drones have to maintain a greater distance and cannot fly over crowds, there could still I guess be issues of harrassment if done repeatedly, maliciously or the filming is particularly invasive or unpleasant but that would require expensive legal advice and evidence and is seperate to the rules on drone flying. Whilst I would agree that flying drones low and filming over other peoples gardens shouldn't be allowed without good reason, we live in a society now where everyone is filming everything and you are virtually never off camera, even coming and going from your home, my neighbours have installed a security camera high up which points straight at my house, they did redirect it after a while but at the start it seemed to point straight at one of the bedrooms, people even have cameras at the back filming each others gardens, maybe we should push for better regulation or else just ignore it!

Re: Low flying drone. - Joe (2nd Jun 2023 - 10:33:05) It is all very well to say private individuals can fly these drones without any legal restraint. How do you know if they are not subsequently going to be used by that private individual for commercial purposes? People have businesses now as private individuals on social media etc and could make a lot of money with the footage. The drones are not different colours so that we can differentiate.

Re: Low flying drone. - er (2nd Jun 2023 - 11:48:06) These are the rules off the CAA website but bear in mind sub 250 gram drones have much weaker rules so I'm not sure if a lot of the rules apply to them in the same way and then if your a private user its different from a commercial user, one thing I noticed is that all drones irrespective of use or size need to have an ID printed clearly on them, although how your going to read this unless they crash god knows! register-drones.caa.co.uk/drone-code/flying-safely-and-responsibly As for privacy, it does expect users to respect privacy where you would normally expect it or you could be breaking Data Protection Laws, which is odd as Data Protection laws don't apply to individuals. Overall I'd say the current law is a mess and needs updating for modern tech where even small toy drones can fly for ages at greater distances and carry cameras!

Re: Low flying drone. - Nick (2nd Jun 2023 - 11:53:15) @er, Yes, the GDPR does apply to individuals. If you process or collect the data of EU/UK residents, you're required to comply with the GDPR — regardless of whether you're a business, organization, or individual. There is also something called common decency and respecting the privacy of persons in our community. Privacy is something we all value and should protect against “Peeping Toms”.

Re: Low flying drone. - Sam (2nd Jun 2023 - 13:18:18) GDPR........................LOL ! in tears laughing here

Re: Low flying drone. - Jim (2nd Jun 2023 - 13:33:57) Hi Sam, Laugh as you may there is an invasion of peoples personal privacy here and this is something most normal rule abiding citizens hold dearly. Maybe you’re ok with your families photos getting posted on “Sam’s Only Fans” page but most of us would like our privacy to be respected.

Re: Low flying drone. - er (2nd Jun 2023 - 15:05:30) OK Nick did I phrase that badly? I suppose an individual could be liable for GDPR but if so I think it would only be as part of their role within a commercial enterprise, I could imagine this perhaps if they operated as a sole trader or were otherwise unincorporated, but not just as a private citizen, otherwise we'd all need a GDPR policy just for having a friend list or address book! We'd need to provide details of our GDPR policies, safeguard processes, procedures etc to anyone who asked and delete it on request, therefore the EU quite clearly intended this law only applied to commercial enterprises.

Re: Low flying drone. - passfield resident (2nd Jun 2023 - 19:04:55) Shoot it down with an air rifle

Re: Low flying drone. - Jack (21st Jun 2023 - 20:56:05) Seems like the local “Peeping Tom” has put their drone away and let the good people of Liphook enjoy the privacy of their gardens once again! Or maybe it’s simply too warm for them to peep on the good people of Liphook. A win for common decency!

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