Planning to host a large backyard wingding in the NYC metro area this weekend? Be sure to watch the skies for uninvited guests. That’s right, the NYPD are deploying drones over “large” Labor Day events and yes, even private barbecues. The strategy was announced during a briefing about J’ouvert — that’s a yearly Caribbean festival that marks the end of slavery. It generally brings crowds of thousands and draws a strong police presence to Brooklyn.
While this particular invasion may come as a bit of a shock, this certainly isn’t the first time the NYPD has deployed drones in the name of public safety or in response to emergencies. Data shows they have used them 124 times this year, which is up a staggering 31 times from the four events in 2022.
As you may have guessed, this has invited backlash from privacy and civil liberties advocates. One pointed out that this action “flies in the face of the POST Act,” a city law that requires the NYPD to provide transparency about their various surveillance tactics. The advocates cite the fact that regulations have not kept up with the proliferation of technology.
No matter what happens in the future with regulations, the NYPD can always crash large parties the old fashioned way. Usually, the neighbors will complain at some point, unless they were all invited.
Photo via Unsplash.
If it can be proven NYPD’s drones are too low per FAA rules, can people fire a net gun to snare the drone legally? Or be a prick and have everyone show hand made signs “We’re having grilled pigs, come on over!”
No. Interference with anything flying is an offence.
Under 400 feet over private property may turn out to be invasion of privacy. Like putting a camera on the end of a boom. Not settled yet. I’d suggest balloons tied down with decent fishing line. Not your fault someone wrecked their expensive drone.
The cops were only allowed to vid from airplanes by slimy lawyering.
They claimed: ‘Sense we’re already there, and allowed to be there, we’re allowed to film anything we can see. (using long lenses and in all spectrum)’
Courts said: ‘Sure, why don’t you F our GFs while you’re here.’
Intercepting a pass is not a FAA violation, neither is duck hunting. ‘Anything flying’ is far too broad. Don’t mess with anything that has a tail #.
I saw a case where the property owner was deemed to be in control of airspace lower than the top of the highest structure on his land. I can’t find it right now, but this seems to convey a similar understanding: https://www.aerotas.com/blog/2017/10/4/who-owns-the-air-above-your-home
So you’re saying we need a HAM radio mast…
Which, I’m sure an adequate radio transmission on the right bands could also solve the drone problem.
Careful. Any mast taller then 100 feet requires a light.
You can’t get to 400 without lawyer bills.
Also stupid people, best not to put an antenna up there at first. The EMF twits will show up (not the punk band obviously, nobody remembers them). Let them go on record describing all their symptoms, then tell them there is no antenna broadcasting.
Barrage balloons are the obvious solution. 399 foot lines. If 10% of homeowners did it, this issue would be solved.
Bet the cops would show, trying to flex authoriti they don’t possess.
During WW2 they used large balloons with wires to hinder enemy aircraft I’m told.
Perhaps party balloons with a long wire and tiny wires along the length to get entangled in the rotors might work as a discouragement.
Or do what a certain British guy of notoriety said he did when he had a drone buzzing around his property: set the waterhose on them and throw rocks and anything you find at it, although I imagine those police drones are pretty high, and too high for such actions to have effect. Plus it’s better to politically force them to not do it rather than each person having to get in a arms race with drones.
Sorry No my property rights extend as high as i have need or use of them provided I 1. light any tower over 150 feet tall and 2. am not on a direct line with any active pre existing run way inside a couple miles from a airport. also drones all operate in and as part 15 devices, as an armature radio operator I am not part 15 and amlegal on all amature bands at around 1500 watts PRP thats peak radiated power so if I happen to be say on 6 meters working EME signals with a tracking array and that little nypd drone is about it has about zero chance of making it home , not just radiated power frying it but many guy wires for my towers and many straight and sloped long wire anntenas all perfectly legal. those dont require being lighted. and should he interfeer with my equipment or signal there are legal penalties for the NYPD to contend with ! my FCC trumps (card term, no relation to the NY Mr. Trump) your NYPD always ! and it would be played if I even saw a drone transit the area i would log the time and report the drone for interupting my signals. Just one legal way to keep drones in check. Also large infra red lights can be rigged to track and follow the sound a dronwe makes ther by blinding it when over my property, not sure how legal that would be but then it could be a malfunction on the drone right?
“The advocates cite the fact that regulations have not kept up with the proliferation of technology.”
Can we fly drones over their property?
Of course not, as that might imply that we are all equal under the law.
America, land of the “free”.
The Fourth amendment was really just a guideline. The Second amendment is the only one that still applies nowadays.
Only half of the Second Amendment applies. The part that says you have the right to a weapon… IF YOU’RE IN THE NATIONAL GUARD is routinely ignored.
Turns out the first amendment protects the second for those of us that own a 3d printer.
Without trying to turn this into a second amendment political discussion, there is no part of the second amendment that says anything about a “National Guard”. The “militia”–at the time the amendment was written–was every able-bodied man.
+1
This is the 105 IQ take which pretends that a militia in those days means the same thing as in these days. The founders absolutely intended for their citizens to be armed. In revolutionary days, there were privately-owned warships and canon. And no, they did not belong to a bureaucratic branch of the military. The “militia” were your neighbors, and they were armed too, and had networks to keep in touch with each other to coordinate in a time of need.
Moron.
The right of the _people_ to keep…
If they had meant militia they would have written militia. They clearly knew the word, having used it earlier in the sentence.
By some legal principle who’s name escapes me, the word ‘people’ means the exact same thing in the second amendment as it does in the rest of the document. To bad, so sad, you lose. Get some target practice in this weekend.
Vote with your feet, don’t let the door hit you on the ass as you leave.
England is going full on police state, you should fit right in there. Even Canada is a shadow kangaroo court system now. You’ll love it. They likely won’t take you.
I’ve told people for decades that I would be okay with a legal system that allowed everyone else, including convicted felons, to carry a gun but specifically excluded me. Of course I’d like one for myself, but that’s how far I’m willing to go positionwise in support of R2KBA.
Just go off your property to shoot the drones down, you won’t be seen. Alternatively, floodlights and/or lasers pointed upwards. We should support the NYPD, they’ve got everything handled. Crime in the city is almost non-existent.
it doesn’t say that. the first half is subordinate to the second half, not the other way around
national guard isn’t the militia, all men 17-45 are, yet children, woman, or old men were not bared from bearing arms
the right of the ***PEOPLE***
The Republic has been dead for longer than you’ve been alive
Deciphered.
Ready for the next round of population lockdowns.
“Drilling into the quad with a battery still inside then led to a fire, which did plenty of further damage.”
Proving his/her worth, the latest rumor is that [Michael Rechtin] is negotiating a lucrative compensation package to be the “Drone Tsar” at either (or BOTH) The Walt Disney Company and/or Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV. Good luck with that /s
Doh! Commented in wrong thread. It belongs here:
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/01/hefty-3d-printed-quadcopter-meets-nasty-end/#comment-6678289
https://atlasofsurveillance.org/atlas
If they announced the plan, sounds like they are being transparent about their surveillance strategy?
Honestly, I’d think having some drones up at any event with lots of people and alcohol is a good plan. If there’s one thing the UK police know, it’s that drunk people aren’t great witnesses but CCTV is.
The last place a large multicopter should be operating is over a crowd.
If you see that, video it and file a FAA complaint. Record the required self snitching drone signals too.
The oinkers won’t be able to investigate themselves…They hate that. Hate. Beware unhinged cops. Video everything.
“J’ouvert — that’s a yearly Caribbean festival that marks the end of slavery”
No, it’s not. (That would be Emancipation Day) It’s the opening of the Caribbean carnival, not the American meaning of carnival, like an amusement park ride , but the European meaning. There are references to slavery in Juve though.
So, it’s more like Brazilian Carnival?
80085!
B^)
Here’s what Wikipedia has…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%27ouvert
What law violations are they checking for? The article says “in response to complaints about large gatherings, including private events”, but I’m not knowledgeable enough about NYC to get what they’re trying to make happen. Is it noise violations?
There’s the ultimate irony, flying a big heavy screaming drone over my house because I’m making too much noise
Picking your nose for too long, sitting in your backyard for too long, wearing a shirt with too bright a shade of green, lawn furniture not arranged correctly, you know dangerous stuff that should definitely be fined.
Using natural gas or charcoal, or other evil climate changing fossil fuels to barbecue…
Flash mobs. Twitter parties in empty homes where someone is on vacation. The ones where 100’s of people show and trash the place. Keggers with juveniles being served. Bass battles between tunner cars that are breaking windows and driving dogs mad and way over legal limits. Fireworks and gunfire. NYC? Barbecue smoke? Use of propane? Having a good time that is not on the woke allowed list?
But really, how is it different from being observed from a high-rise?
> Having a good time that is not on the woke allowed list?
> But really, how is it different from being observed from a high-rise?
If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear? Careful, your generation is showing.
Yeah right, if 100 people break and enter to trash a place a tiny little drone is going to stop them? And how does the drone determine it’s not the legal owner? Same for ‘bass battles’ where a drone won’t cut it. As for gunfire: I bet they’d love a target :)
The NYPD says the idea is to scout ahead with them though, to determine how many cops to deploy.
The NYPD also says they tested them succesfully to ask people to disperse when at pride gatherings in the park BTW, and while doing that indicating the things have both microphones and speakers. The microphones thing is very iffy but in NYC as well as britain for instance many CCTV cameras have them too. They just ignore outrage and people get distracted with the next thing. Or people are simply not even aware they have mics.
Trust me, things get very rowdy during j’ouvert
Same with Fashings.
German pre-lent party.
It’s good that the world has given up lent but kept the parties.
NYC *is* a large gathering of people. But this move is definitely big brother totalitarian BS right here.
I read HAD regularly, and enjoy it for the most part because it’s typically educational and non-political.
I feel like this post is neither. I get it, politics are an inevitable part of life, but posts like this are a turn off to me.
Pretty much in the same mindset.
This is far more about politics than it is anything technology related.
It happens to be a drone.
It could have been a helicopter.
Or a satellite.
Or a clown with a camera launched from a cannon.
Honestly, if it were the clown I’d seriously want to see the technical details.
Surveillance technology, to counter and learn from.
I find that this is plenty educational and I’d also say that anyone who dabbles in science and technology has a moral imperative to understands its possible nefarious political uses.
With this mindset.
Learning solely about what personally benefits or entertains you is a special kind of egotism.
usually people complaining about things “getting too political” simply disagree with the expressed point of view. leave them be.
It was merely an observation of fact and wasn’t “political” until you said it was, so in reality you made it political.
I get it, politics are an inevitable part of life, but posts like yours are a turn off to me.
You’re not a Playboy Playmate (remember those?). No one cares about your turnoffs.
Use umbrella to hide from eye in the sky camera.
Walk under a tree for cover.
Shoot the shotgun as many times as required to eliminate the invader.
If I am in my yard, surrounded by a privacy fence, NOBODY is going to do that surveillance on me or my family.
“this action “flies in the face of the POST Act,” a city law that requires the NYPD to provide transparency about their various surveillance tactics”
How? I’m not in favor of the tactic, but announcing that they’re going to do it IS “transparency,” is it not?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1290379/Bullseye-Medieval-enactor-brings-drone-javelin.html
Suggest a GPS jamming device. These are definitely available and should do the trick.
> The strategy was announced during a briefing about J’ouvert — that’s a yearly Caribbean festival that marks the end of slavery.
Aaaaand there it is.