The method demonstrated in the video is problematic for a commoner like me to apply, since it not only comes with serious electrical hazards when handling the high voltage capacitor in the microwave, but it also comes with the risk of endangering other peoples electronics, causing fire hazards or affecting radiological infrastructure that is protected by law.
Our entire house, containing eight households, are furious at our neighbors living across the street, because they are flying their drone up to our windows and hover. It is equipped with something that resembles a lens.
I'd shoot it down, but that leaves a trail and is not subtle. I really don't want to risk my gun "career", since I want to get licensed for heavier caliber sometime next year.
The police don't do nothing about it, since it's not illegal to maneuver in populated areas. It's neither directly illegal to film people, even though they indirectly could be charged with harassment. I don't have or want to spend the funds for a civil lawsuit.
What are my offensive and defensive options?
72 Comments
seathru@quokk.au · 35 pts · 4d
If it's getting that close, pick up a super soaker (or other suitably high powered squirt gun) and load it up with salt water. Consumer drones tend to have little to no waterproofing.
PROTIP: Aim high.
akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone · 21 pts · 4d
Ouff now we're talking! What's the purpose of the salt? Increased conductivity?
seathru@quokk.au · 24 pts · 4d
Yes increases conductivity and corrosiveness. Making sure it stays away.
Jax@sh.itjust.works · 30 pts · 4d
If they routinely fly up to your windows and hover there you can get a Co2 powered net gun, the kind they use on wildlife. It'll run you about 650-700 up to a 1000 bucks for a kit - but a net is a pretty good way of dealing with a drone.
When the cops ask you why, tell them that your neighbor is spying on you. While it is not illegal to fly a drone around someone's house, it is illegal to spy on you.
akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone · 11 pts · 4d
Sic! I'll check it out! š
Jax@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 4d
Hell, if you're farming the drones they buy you might even make your money back lol. Good luck, I'm sorry you have to deal with your privacy being invaded.
ironhydroxide@sh.itjust.works · 27 pts · 4d
Hell if it's a regular thing you could hang a net of fishing string from above your window, propped out some by sticks. The drone would tangle and fall, or tangle and hang.
akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone · 12 pts · 4d
Noice. If it's the latter, hell, I'll take the drone and salvage the parts. š¤£
quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 4d
The barrage balloon approach
dan1101@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 4d
Garden hose?
ETA: We need some serious re-examination of airspace laws in the USA. I think if you own your property, and you own and pay taxes on all of your house up to the very top of it, then you should own the airspace within that area. Otherwise if the airspace isn't yours do you need a permit from the FAA to build a 2-story house in "their" airspace?
akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 4d
Good point!
ApollosArrow@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 3d
You could probably install some remote sprinkles on the ground outside along the path they keep flying, trigger it and then say āoopsā when it crashes. Rinse and repeat if they keep buying more.
Pika@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 2d
This becomes very sticky and is intentionally labeled the way it is in the US explicitly because it would be too complicated to coordinate with aviation. That is unlikely to change anytime soon.
Property rights used to classify your land as anything from your ground all the way to the planets. This was re-defined when airplanes were created because it became obvious that reasonably you can't have that style of legal claim, because it wouldn't be possible for aviation without an extreme amount of micromanagement and that's just not reasonable.
Instead, they redefined it to be generally, starting 500 feet above ground becomes public domain controlled by the FAA. This doesn't mean that you can build a house 500 feet in the air because you're still restricted by your local territory ordinances. For example, Bloomington Minnesota doesn't allow more than 2 story(excluding basement) buildings without permit.
This was actually ruled based on a chicken farm back in the 1940's(United States v. Causby), believe it or not. because the military flew a plane of 87 feet off the ground and it was causing the chickens to kill themselves. The courts at that point did away with the heavens to the sky concept(well, technically, they did in 1926, it just took until this case to have actual solid rules for it), which was that you owned anywhere from the land all the way up to the heavens. and instead added an invisible barrier that separated the land that you own to the sky. In that case, the government was found to be at fault because it was flying low enough that it was causing harm to the farmer in removing control of the farmer's land.
Note, this doesn't mean that drones are not allowed in that 500 foot zone, that is still in a territory by territory decision. The general understanding is that non-commercial drones need to be following privacy laws that are in place. So, while they may be allowed in your 500 foot zone, that doesn't mean they're allowed to be at your second story window filming you. They need to be not impacting your use of the land.
This is somewhat unrelated, and already mentioned later on, but I also wanted to add in that drones are considered aircraft by FAA standard, so I would not advocate taking matters into your own hand, period, and trying to take them down, via traps, firing at them any type of damage that could potentially cause the issue on your land. Not only would it be highly likely that you would be needing to pay restitution for destroying the drone, but it's also fairly possible that you would face felony charges for it. You need to rely on the existing legal system in order to take care of it or else you put yourself up to the potential of being in the wrong. Report the drone to the FAA, report it to your local police for privacy invasion, but do not, under any circumstance, cause actual damage to the craft.
dan1101@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1d
It's a weird situation where you can't do anything to an unmanned drone flying around your yard but at the same time if I wanted to string rope lights in a complex network all over the yard that's perfectly valid. So it's your airspace but also not your airspace once someone flies in there.
anarchy79@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2d
Do you own everything above that airspace too, like planets and stars?
Tja@programming.dev · 15 pts · 4d
Depends on your jurisdiction, but here in Germany it is very much illegal to film people in their own home.
akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone · 9 pts · 4d
I wish our police had the resources to give even an inch of fucks to my "complaints" š
Nutteman@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 4d
If they did they'd use it to further impede class struggle not help you at all
akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone · 7 pts · 4d
Word.
portifornia@piefed.social · 8 pts · 4d
That they somehow convinced you it was a matter of resources to not protect citizens from peeping-toms is unfortunate. They have more resources than you could possibly imagine. They just don't care, because they don't have to, and their job is only to protect people in power.
sylver_dragon@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 4d
Buy a bit of paracord, make a simple net, toss as appropriate.
Paintball markers are also cheap, reasonably accurate and don't involve yeeting a bullet on a ballistic arc.
MonkeMischief@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 4d
Maybe from the roof? It wouldn't see an attack from above.
...then maybe a loose brick HAPPENS to follow...
akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 4d
Tiral@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 4d
Radio jammer, it's fairly cheap, but highly illegal by the FCC.
I made one and hid it under my seat at my job and it blocked cellphones and Wi-Fi from working. Context is I was a teacher for a piece of shit school district. Every year they had a bullshit ra-ra thing a few days before school started. Everyone just sat on their phones and laptops every year, so I made it so nothing worked, it was amazing to watch all the IT tards that don't know how to factory reset an Android phone try to "fix it" all while people couldn't watch YouTube. It was like calling Dell IT live action, reboot, reboot, I just can't figure out if. Worth the $20 by a mile.
OctopusNemeses@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 4d
How did you make one for $20?
Treczoks@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 3d
Any arking device is a broadband jammer.
OctopusNemeses@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 3d
Ah, I missed the part about affecting cellular and wifi. I was hoping for something more directed for minimal disruption.
I've actually had the same problem as OP. Nuisance neighbors with drones, but I don't know who it is but they peep in windows.
courval@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 3d
I still don't get it.. Do you mean an arking device like an aluminium umbrella or similar? How did OP hid something like that under his seat/desk? And how effective would it be in such a place..
Treczoks@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 3d
More like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spark_gap preferably with horn electrodes.
Iconoclast@feddit.uk · 10 pts · 4d
Have you tried asking them to stop?
However, I highly doubt it's actually legal to fly on private property and it sure as hell isn't legal to film inside of people's homes which is a violation of domestic privacy. Also, in Finland the property owner also owns the airspace above up to 150 meters and drone are only allowed to go up to 120 meters so there is no circumstance in which you're allowed to fly on private property without permission.
snugglesthefalse@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 4d
Yeah it depends on the region. Here you can legally fly small drones more or less anywhere as long as you're not harassing people (recording or taking pictures through the windows would count as that though) and the operator is bound by gdpr for anything they share on the internet. Interfering with the drone is legally interfering with an aircraft though so if you start trying to shoot one down then it's legally similar to causing a full sized aircraft to crash. It depends on where you are but I'd try to contact whatever air administration you have and inform them.
HeHoXa@lemmy.zip · 10 pts · 4d
Not a lawyer and have just a very locally soecific anecdote, but, I know in my home town there was a case where a dude liked to chill naked in his back yard behind his huge privacy fence. A Karen climbed a tree near his property to photograph him and took him to court. The judge wound up threatening her, citing some statute like she went through "extensive effort" or something to be able to see it, that he was not plainly visible and could expect privacy.
In my experience cops mostly just want everyone to shut up and say whatever they think will make that happen. Maybe consult an attorney? Seems like flying a drone to your window is pretty extensive effort to get a view where you should be able to expect privacy.
AA5B@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 4d
Video camera and small claims court? At some point it turns into harassment or invasion of privacy. With a video (and a lot of luck) you may be able to establish who the pilot is and when the actions become intrusive
gothic_lemons@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 4d
Buy your own cheap drone smash it into their drone. Oops sorry I'm a bad flyer. But the net ideas other ppl are saying is probably cheaper/easier
Oh what about silly string plus lighter or like bug spray plus lighter. Or upside down can of computer cleaner. It comes out freezing when you hold it upside down. Idk how effective it would be but I want to find out
Another idea squirt gun filled with cat piss or something super stinky to stink of their house. Downside your yard may smell
Typotyper@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 4d
Wasp spray!! It shoots 12' in a tight stream and looks like an WW2 flame thrower tank shooting.
Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 4d
Get 3 of the large bouncy balls and some nylon cordage. Drill a hole through each bouncy ball and run a loop of cord through it. Tie it off then connect the loose ends in a Y shape. You effectively have a forked bolo.
Hold it by the loose send, twirl it to get some momentum, then launch it at the drone. Any single ball will be enough to cause damage and if all 3 miss it's going to get snagged by the cord.
Takes a little practice to get the twirl just right but I figured it out in an afternoon and by dinner I was able to hit soda cans at 50ft. If you're half as clumsy as I am you'll nail it on the first go.
gothic_lemons@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 4d
I love the creativity of this one. Have you made a bouncy ball bolo before?
Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2d
Its been more than a decade, but my kid is getting old enough to show him the more ridiculous things. I'll have to pick up some bouncy balls.
hansolo@lemmy.today · 9 pts · 3d
Wow, so much bad advice in this thread.
It's illegal to repeatedly harass and film people in their home. That's an invasion of privacy and harassment. Please check your local laws.
It's also very illegal to shoot at or otherwise actively bring down a drone, as you will be violating aviation safety laws. You might also be liable for damage to a drone.
First, record and submit to the police every incident. Every one. Make them also furious at your neighbor. Build the case of harassment. Build a case of violating aviation laws. Please.
Nets and string are your best countermeasure option, as those are passive, meaning the drone flies into an obstruction. If you use fishing line, pull it taught. Loose fishing line over a space can harm birds. A few criss-crossed fine strings will likely, eventually, work, and can plausibly have some other purpose, like decoration.
It's not worth being sloppy and getting into trouble on top of being harassed. Be calm, be smart. Please.
shartgargle@lemmy.zip · 9 pts · 4d
Learn falconry, buy and train falcon to attack drones.
More seriously those cheaper drones can be taken down fairly easy, especially hovering in one spot. Honestly a few shots from a cheap airsoft gun should do the trick. Or if you can figure out the model, you can get a controller for it, then as it gets close, your controller will take over as it would be the stronger signal. I'm assuming it's a cheaper model as any serious enthusiast wouldn't use their drone like this, and cheap models have very basic signals, MAYBE it would have 2 channels to switch back and forth from? So you get the model controller, take over control, land it in your yard and turn it off. Who knows what happened to it after that?
CannonFodder@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 4d
I don't think that getting another controller would work with modern digital rc tech. You pair a drone with its controller and then it will only work with that controller. That way people multiple people can use multiple drone in the same area to film the same event, or race them, etc.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today · 5 pts · 4d
Or crows.
shartgargle@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 4d
Ooh I love crows.
anarchy79@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2d
Crow gang represent!
portifornia@piefed.social · 8 pts · 4d
I'd make a few loose fishing line webs / a bunch of fishing line streamers. Line should be too fine for the drones camera to detect, but its propellers will hit the line and instantly gum it up. Just make sure your traps are only on your property. Bonus points ir the web, having caught a drone, can be reeled in from afar.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today · 6 pts · 4d
A net.
olejellylegs@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 4d
Paintball gun would do well on the camera, same with flock cams āin theoryā.
Wonder if you could get paintballs with permanent ink/grease/ or other caustic materialsā¦ ? Just curious.
solarvector@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 4d
You can definitely get balls filled with grease, pretty commonly used for utilities. Link below is just a site I found, not actually sure how to order them.
https://www.cmgelectricsupply.com/results-lubricating-capsules
GreenKnight23@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 4d
paintballs are usually two halves stuck together. in theory you could extract the paint and inject the two parts of spray foam.
seal up the holes with some superglue or silicone caulk and it should be flawless.
edit: if they are just one ball, just fill some with one and the others with the activator.
even better if you have two guns.
antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 6 pts · 4d
Many cheaper drones canāt even fly over water because the ultrasonic distance sensor freaks out. First attempt, I would put a kiddie pool under the window. If that doesnāt work I would try buying ultrasonic distance sensors, like replacement ones for drones, and spamming the drone with it using an arduino or raspberry pi. The drone may think itās crashing and make erratic adjustments, causing it to crash for real. If that fails Iād go archaic and throw bolas at it.
Treczoks@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 3d
Powdered iron. 'Nuff said.
YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today · 5 pts · 3d
Pocket powder iron!
stringere@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2d
Not really. Most uses I see for powdered iron are for manufacturing car parts.
Treczoks@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2d
OK. Imagine iron dust both shorting electric circuits and degrading electric motors.
stringere@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 2d
Ok, now I smell what you're stepping in.
Some kind of adhesive that would allow for powder disperal would be great. Or a salt water misting followup.
Typotyper@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 4d
Small air cannon shooting BBs. Load tablespoon of BBs into a small pipe. One end open one end connected to a small manual valve. Other side of valve is connected to 120 psi. A nozzel for an air GU. Would work well.
BBs won't go far. 50' Maybe some string with a weighted end would work well to trap it.
Zoomboingding@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 3d
Bola gun!
quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 4d
I don't think they are legal, but I would try to get my hands on a jamming device.
fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 10 pts · 4d
Extremely illegal in the US, and probably most other countries. Also largely worthless unless the drone is really shit. My 10 year old DJI will automatically fly back to me when it loses signal. Even their cheap models have those features now.
quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 4d
Back to the drawing board.
OakTree@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 3d
Itās only illegal if you turn it on.
solarvector@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 4d
On the other hand if the drone always flies home as soon as it approaches, mission still accomplished?
gedaliyah@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 4d
Doesn't your country have privacy laws? In the USA, this would likely be invasion of privacy, harassment, or public nuisance, which are illegal. If it is directly over your property or at an angle that is not visible from the street, then it is absolutely invasion of privacy (sometimes called "peeping Tom" laws). If you have told them to stop, then it's likely harassment or stalking. Ask a lawyer.
You could send them a cease and desist letter. Or you could construct some passive deterrents; for example, long loops of black thread that would be invisible to the drone and get tangled in the rotors.
veniasilente@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 2d
Silly you, privacy laws are for the elites not for the plebs.
bananabread@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 4d
Ask them to stop?
akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 4d
Normally, in many other situations, that would be first thing I'd do, but I am not going to waste my time, energy and emotions on negotiating with people who disrespect me.
DarkFuture@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 4d
Yeah, fuck that. Destroy that shit while it's on your property. Don't waste oxygen on wastes of oxygen.
Iconoclast@feddit.uk · 3 pts · 4d
What a shitty excuse. It's probably kids who fly those things and their parents don't even know because nobody has the spine to go tell them. Then you come here plotting your petty revenge for a situation that could be easily handled by talking.
Unspoken expectations are premeditated resentments.
psud@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 3d
"They're being unreasonable" is the worst excuse to not talk to them. When you can say "knock it off, you're unreasonable and probably illegal and do your parents even know what you're doing" could well get them to stop
anarchy79@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2d
Roll of toilet paper.
That's how we do it at football matches.
solidheron@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 3d
Yeah the microwave can jam the wifi used to control the drone and if it's close enough it can cause arcing in the circuitry(making shorts were there shouldn't be shorts) and causing the drone to drop.
Drones can jump to another frequency so it can make jamming efforts useless. The arcing will probably require the drone to be close.
There is a product that can jam every drone all on one.
quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 4d
Streamer cannons?