Watching the video, I had this thought pop into my head: The woman was upset because she thought the kid was taking pictures of a sexual nature. So she starts tearing off his shirt, as if saying ‘How do you like being naked!’ Surely she wasn’t intending that; but as someone just watching the video, I could see a hard-nosed prosecutor asking for sexual assault charges against her.
Yeah. Really difficult for me to see it any other way.
You two are totally nuts. The people on the beach CHOSE to expose their bodies to public view in a public place. Taking pictures of something that is put on public display is no more perverted than putting it on display in the first place.
There is a well-established body of law to the effect that anything that is available to public view can be photographed. Permission or lack thereof is totally irrelevant. As a matter of fact, it can be argued that people tacitly give their permission to be photographed or videotaped simply by going into a public place.
What sets apart an unmanned aircraft with a camera from a manned aircraft with a camera? Nothing, (except that the unmanned one can be smaller, cheaper to operate). Drones are doing the same things that manned aircraft have been doing all along, and yet everyone acts like it’s something different.
The same goes for planes that launch missiles or bombs: If a drone does it, somehow it isn’t an act of war, but rather spying.
If somebody is taking pictures in a public space, an you don’t like being in them, politely ask the photographer not to take pictures of you and to erase any pictures or video sequences showing you. Most photographers will comply without any fuss. To attack the photographer and/or damage equipment is definitely an inappropriate overreaction.
Most drones are now being marketed for their video capabilities like this one. Privacy issues are sure to increase with there use. Expect skeet shooting to increase likewise.
Thanks for this post, Flyer. You saved me the trouble of typing all that.
Yeah, my congrats to the kid for getting the charged laid.
Also, congrats to the kid for progressing the ban on drones to come a little faster…
They are going to have to ban them on public land, at least.
I hope the kid gets hooked up with a good lawyer and the woman winds up having to give him enough money to pay his college education.
In future, people who want to take pictures with a clone helicopter will position themselves inside a van or a home and no one will ever be able to lay a hand on them.
No one can do a thing about drones once people figure out they need to position themselves out of the public view and arrange for their drones to take off and land far away from the place they are photgraphing.
But like others have said. There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking pictures of public places. Just because some crazies believe it is voyeurism, is irrelevant.
I say again. Hopefully the crazies have enough money so they can be sued and forced to cough up lots of money to pay for all the damage they do.
If you have any children under the age of 13 (I think that is the age in most states), they should know they cannot be charged with any crime under that age.
So, if some adult attacks them violently, I would instruct my kid to scream for help. But also … to fight back with as much force as possible. Because … no matter what the kid does in self-defense, they cannot be charged with any kind of crime.
If it is an adult who is attacked, they may think it’s self-defense. But you never can tell what will happen. Adults may get charged with some crime(s) and there are all kinds of unanticipated problems that can result from that. So, an adult has to be very careful how they defend themselves from an unprovoked attack.
A kid does not need to be anywhere near as careful. Kids can fight back (and IMO, they **should **fight back) with anything and everything they have or they can lay their hands on.
While the woman is indeed nuts to attack some kid, I don’t think that there’s anything crazy about feeling that people shouldn’t just go around filming anybody in beaches.
Let me ask you this: if the kid was walking around the beach with a handheld camera, would you still be completely fine with it?
Let me ask you this: why wouldn’t I be completely fine with it?
Did I not know that there would be other people at the beach?
Are photographic devices brand new and so expensive that virtually no private individual is even able to own one?
Have I been living in a cave? (Or maybe you think I’m from Utah? 
)
I’m pretty sure that nearly every human being in North America now has a camera (that not only takes still photos but also takes video, with audio) cleverly disguised as a telephone in their possession nearly every single minute of every single day now; should we ban those at the beach too?
:dubious:
“Out in public” means, ya know, out in public.
If he were explicitly taking videos of people on the beach I’d find it distasteful, not necessarily illegal, but definitely distasteful.
However, he wasn’t taking videos of people, he was taking videos of the landscape. I don’t see why anybody would consider this even remotely wrong.
That’s the problem with cameras. You never know what kind of lens is on it and how it’s focused. Drones can get closeup pics. Our local news got some very good closeups of tornado damage.
The sick perverts out there are constantly getting busted with these tiny cameras. Shoe cams. and Cams hidden in shopping bags. You name it. I see a news report about some sicko looking up dresses at least monthly. So naturally I’d be very suspicious at any drones randomly flying over me at the beach or in my backyard.
I would not attack the person. I’d lawfully ask the beach patrol to investigate. They can decide if the cops are needed. The cops could quickly review the recorded information and determine if its innocent landscape photography or pervy voyeurism.
No, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t be fine with a handheld and I wouldn’t be fine with somebody taking pictures with their cellphone.
Now, let me ask you another question: the guy with the handheld camera stops in front of your two hypothetical kids and records them. Not touching himself or anything, just filming them while they play. You still fine with that?
That’s not really a determination for the police to make since “pervy voyeurism” (at least anything a drone over a beach can accomplish) in public places is legal.
You are all missing the point here.
Think about it. Geeky kid, stupid name, childhood trauma, affinity with technology. This is merely the breeding ground for a super-villain 15 years hence.
Mark my words, around 2030 there’ll be a spate of drone assassinations on beach-goers by someone called “The SPY” who cackles and ends his sentences with “I’ll show them ALL!”
Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?
I noticed, btw, that you didn’t answer that question the first time around.
What question?
Now, the man filming your kids gets closer. You notice that he’s doing a close up of their little crotches. Still cool with that?