from kpho.com
A woman says a drone is the Peeping Tom of 2014.
Candace Hackett called police to report a drone was spying on her in her apartment near Stewart Street and Perry Avenue. She said when she looked down, she saw its operator pack up camera equipment into a car and take off.
“‘Well, that’s interesting. Big Brother much?’ is kind of my gut instinct,” Hackett said.
People who live here admit they’re slightly creeped out.
“It’s a little odd,” Sameer Gopalani said. “I wonder why it would be flying around and to what purpose.”
“The good person in me wants to believe it wasn’t someone trying to watch me or another person in the building, but who knows?” Hackett said.
Legally, it doesn’t matter. The Federal Aviation Administration on Monday reaffirmed rules for unmanned model aircraft. They only address air traffic safety, not privacy.
“People do have an expectation of privacy and they should,” Seattle Police Detective Patrick Michaud said. “But if somebody is outside, and they can get a picture of you through your window, that’s just living in the city, sorry.”
Seattle police admit there’s not much they can do about drone complaints with one exception.
“If you feel threatened by it or you get hit by it, feel free to tell a person, ‘Hey look, that’s not cool,'” Michaud said. “Or you can call police, and we can do the talking for you, if you wish.”
Alan is serial entrepreneur, active angel investor, and a drone enthusiast. He co-founded DRONELIFE.com to address the emerging commercial market for drones and drone technology. Prior to DRONELIFE.com, Alan co-founded Where.com, ThinkingScreen Media, and Nurse.com. Recently, Alan has co-founded Crowditz.com, a leader in Equity Crowdfunding Data, Analytics, and Insights. Alan can be reached at alan(at)dronelife.com