Moonbeam Brown approves new limits on paparazzi drones

After rejecting other limits on drone use, Gov. Jerry Brown
signed legislation Tuesday to expand privacy protections to
prevent paparazzi from flying drones over private property.

The bill, AB 856, changes the definition of a "physical invasion
of privacy" to include sending a drone into the airspace above
someone's land in order to make a recording or take a photo.

Assemblyman Ian Calderon (D-Whittier), who wrote the
legislation, said the need for new rules was demonstrated at a
hearing last year.

"We learned that the paparazzi have used drones for years to
invade the privacy and capture pictures of public persons in
their most private of activities -- despite existing law," he
said in a statement.

Brown has not welcomed other attempts to place limits on drone
use. Brown vetoed a broader proposal last month that would have
made flying a drone above someone's property without permission
a trespassing violation.

"While well-intentioned," Brown wrote in a veto message, the
bill "could expose the occasional hobbyist and the FAA-approved
commercial user alike to burdensome litigation and new causes of
action."

And last weekend the governor rejected three bills that would
have prohibited civilians from flying aerial drones over
wildfires, schools, prisons and jails. Some of the proposals
were intended to prevent interference with firefighting aircraft
-- a recurring problem, according to fire officials -- and
prevent inmates from receiving airborne contraband.

The three drone-related bills were rejected along with six
others that Brown disliked because they would create new crimes.

"This multiplication and particularization of criminal behavior
creates increasing complexity without commensurate benefit," the
governor wrote in a veto message.

Follow @chrismegerian for more updates from Sacramento.

Per UCLA:
After rejecting other limits on drone use, Gov. Jerry Brown
signed legislation Tuesday to expand privacy protections to
prevent paparazzi from flying drones over private property.
....
"While well-intentioned," Brown wrote in a veto message, the
bill "could expose the occasional hobbyist and the FAA-approved
commercial user alike to burdensome litigation and new causes of
action."

Maybe a simpler and more popular approach would be to legalize
skeet-shooting of any drone that falls on the shooter's property when it
falls out of the air.... -)
--
Pete Cresswell