Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Drones Over Harringay - Invasion of Privacy?

Last night @esotericlondon tweeted to the Harringay Online Twiter account with a report of a drone over the @esotericlondon stately home garden in N15.

Anyone else in N15 had a drone pop over their garden to say hi as I did this week? @harringayonline @BowesandBounds
— Esoteric London (@esotericlondon) June 19, 2015

I've been keeping an eye on drone development for commercial reasons, but last night's tweet was the first thing that's really made me think about the wider impact this develpoing technology may have on our personal lives in our own homes.

As the price of drones has fallen, their use has become increasingly widespread. Some are being used for commercial aerial photography, but many are part of a hobby. There's nothing new about model aircraft flying, but this new generation, so-called unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones, usually come with a camera at least and often a video camera. This raises the fear of the unprecedented opportunity to snoop.

So what are your rights if you see a drone hovering outside your bedroom window or buzzing your garden? In the UK, the Civil Aviation Authority sets the rules on drones under what is called an air navigation order. This means:

an unmanned aircraft must never be flown beyond the normal unaided "line of sight" of the person operating it - this is generally measured as 500m (1,640ft)horizontally or 400ft (122m) vertically
an unmanned aircraft fitted with a camera must always be flown at least 50m (164ft) distance away from a person, vehicle, building or structure
an unmanned aircraft fitted with a camera must not be flown within 150m (492ft) of a congested area or large group of people, such as a sporting event or concert
For commercial purposes, operators must have permission to fly a drone from the CAA.

Clear as these rules may be, the BBC has reported evidence suggesting that they are being flouted either because people are unaware or are wilfully ignoring them. The CAA has already prosecuted two UAV operators relating to safety breaches. It has four other investigations pending. The BBC says that the police have been unable to confirm how many prosecutions they have made over drones. But there have been arrests, such as that of a man from Nottingham in October for flying a drone over Manchester City's stadium during their game against Tottenham Hotspur.

It's an interesting trend, one that I think gives no cause for panic, but it's one we might all keep an occasional eye on.

More about drone developments on the BBC website at www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30387107.

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Permalink Reply by CanadianMichael on June 26, 2015 at 0:34

Dunno, air gun might not be enough... http://gizmodo.com/shooting-down-a-tiny-drone-is-nearly-impossible-...

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Permalink Reply by pamish on June 20, 2015 at 20:11

I could have used one today on the demo, for those essential crowd overhead shots. But it would breach approx all of these regs.

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Permalink Reply by John D on June 20, 2015 at 21:41

Could we use one to investigate the mysterious tower on the New River ?

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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on June 21, 2015 at 8:15

It raises some interesting questions Hugh. I would imagine that almost all of us have appeared in the background in photographs taken by tourists visiting London; walking through Trafalgar Square, Brick Lane and so on. I think the difference with drone photography is that it can happen in places where it would be resonable to expect privacy like your back garden and surely brings in the issue of your consent to be photographed. While I accept that I'll be in shot if I walk by Buckingham Palace I would like to be asked first before being filmed hanging out the washing in my dressing gown.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on June 21, 2015 at 15:44

Don't know if I own the airspace above my garden. Otherwise I could charge aeroplanes an entry fee.

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Permalink Reply by pamish on June 21, 2015 at 15:51

I think there are limits. Also downwards. When looking up who owns the houses in Suffield Road (behind Wards Corner) that Grainger is busy acquiring from LBH at special cut-price rates, I was surprised to find that London Underground Ltd has leases on the land 17m (?) down to allow it to run the tube tunnels there. I'll look up the exact figure when I'm not 'gardening'. We don't own the land we live on, in depth. This has massive implications re fracking.