Dear Editor,

I don't consider myself an expert in drone privacy and most of what I know is in the article on my website.

People generally think drones can invade their privacy a lot more than they actually can. I've been accused of spying on people when I've actually not flown anywhere near them and even when I've not had a photography camera attached to the drone.

People can be quite paranoid about this, refusing even to believe the evidence provided by the drone controller through real time on-screen tracking.

If someone is hovering above your property, you should take photos of their drone and then go out in the street and see if you can see them.

They are probably close by as the range of drones is not that great, especially in built up areas. More than likely it's going to be someone taking real estate photos.

If you can find them, by all means take photos of them, their drone and vehicle, but do not interfere with their operation as you are arguably committing a federal crime if you do.

Some people boast that they will shoot a drone down if they see one near their property, but the only person I'm aware of who did this in Australia went to prison for doing so and still had to compensate the owner of the drone.

You do not own the airspace above your property. Generally speaking, drone pilots don't need your permission to fly over or above your property and there are no privacy laws specific to drone use that I'm aware of. However, CASA does have rules about flying over people and populated areas, but my experience is that they don't really have the resources to enforce them.

Rather than aggressively demand that someone stop flying their drone over your property, you are better served to politely ask them what they are doing and why they are flying over your yard.

More often than not they will have a legitimate purpose you might not be aware of. You might not agree  with their right to do that, but the law is not on your side.

If you are concerned that someone is actually spying on you or your family with a drone, you should call the police and report it.

Often there is not much they can do as the drone will probably be gone by the time they ge there, and they'll probably not be very certain of what laws apply to the situation, but they may be able to use reports to establish a pattern of behaviour.

Drone cameras are generally not nearly as good as most people think. It's actually very hard to look through a window with a drone as the glass reflects the light and you need to be quite close to see anything in particular.

If you are sunbathing naked in your yard you have a lot more to worry about than drone cameras.

Tony Gilbert

Chief pilot and managing director
Queensland Drones