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Comment by iAMkenough | Hacker News Reader

What are the legal implications for taking down an unidentified drone hovering over your private property?

There are no legal means to take down a drone in NYC. And the implied assumption that the same rules and laws apply to NYPD as the citizens is ridiculous at best.

What are the consequence of taking them down though? If they fly low enough even an arrow could do so. If they’re high enough in the air some sort of firearm could do away with it Im thinking… I guess that would equate to shooting at NYPD propery but would a costly investigation be worth it?

Firing a weapon in the air is a supremely bad idea. Especially in a city. ESPECIALLY in NYC.

If you're willing to shoot a firearm in the air to take out a drone in a crowded city, you have no business being within arm's reach of any firearm unsupervised, regardless of how old you are.

Im not willing to do so but someone will, and an ingenious person could use a silncer or something that obfuscates their location. While Im impressed with the development of drone tech I don’t think suddently they’re invincible in any way…

"I might get caught if I don't use a silencer" is hardly GP's point.

Short of using a rail gun, your projectile is unlikely to reach escape velocity.

You don't need "escape velocity", and a suitable PCP can be mail-ordered.

The penalty is that your life will be turned over, you will give all your money to lawyers, and then you will spend a lot of time in jail.

Hi! I live in NYC too. Please don’t fire a gun into the air! As much as I dislike NYPD surveillance, it’s better than being killed by a falling bullet!

FAA considers drones aircraft, ergo it's illegal to shoot at them

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johngoglia/2016/04/13/faa-confi...

lets go fly a kite,,,with a good bit of monofilament in the tail so its sturdy.

lol what if you have one of these? Or something equivalent? https://www.thisiswhyimbroke.com/tactical-drone-jammer-gun/

Well, since it’s legally an aircraft, it’s a felony

I don't think the 50 hawks bred in your backyard can be prosecuted?

Training a bald eagle to take them down would certainly cause some chaos.

I havent thought of that and it’s quite ingenious and hard to prove legally who’s behind it.

They don’t need to prove anything. They will know it’s the local hawk guy. That person will then sped all his or her money on lawyers, and then spend a long time in jail.

With this technology flourishing I wouldn’t be surprised seeing more and more hawks as ‘pets’ though. Don’t underestimate the reaction to any abusive tech, the achilles heel may be even easier than that to strike

It’s been done: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-35750816

There's probably no legal way to do that in the US. Bald eagles (and Golden eagles) have special protection under Federal law which essentially makes having anything to do with them a felony unless you are a zoo or are a Native American using the eagle for religious purposes, and even then you need to get a permit.

That was the point I was getting at. Since eagles are untouchable, if they somehow learned to take down drones, nobody can do anything about it ;)

(I'm not actually advocating anybody do this.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o43C1kufMaM Bird law in this country is not governed by reason - Charlie Kelly

Legal or not I personally know a number of individuals who would down these without any hesitation. It is on their property and is not a human being: fair game as far as they are concerned.

It is not, in fact, on their property. The airspace belongs to the public. It is ironic that they would deprive others of their property rights in the name of perceived property rights. I would certainly hope for a felony conviction in such a case. I have no sympathy for people who would use weapons to illegally enrich themselves at the expense of others.

And by the way, as has been decided this year (though it might yet be appealed) in the Wyoming border crossing case, even using a ladder to cross through the airspace above private lands is not trespassing.

Who said anything about enrichment? We have a right to privacy and quiet enjoyment. Corporations aren't people, they don't have moral rights. If shooting/netting them down catches on they can't arrest everyone. "Father becomes imprisoned felon for taking down invasive corporate/government drone that spied on their home" will not be a headline that garners sympathy for the drone operator.

Wonder how much they differ for physical and non-physical intervention

If you cause interference that crashes a drone, you'll have the FCC and the FAA up your ass.

You will end up in Federal Prison with no chance of parole. It is a felony to shoot down aircraft. Do not do it, it’s not cool.

> What are the legal implications

https://xkcd.com/1523/

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