• State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson introduced a bill on Jan. 28 that would prohibit drones from trespassing on private property. California law already prohibits someone from entering private property without the owner’s permission, and prohibits them from photographing or recording conversations. Senate Bill 142 would clarify that those trespassing rules also apply to entry by remotely operated aerial vehicles—drones. “This bill is about anticipating and preventing problems before they occur,” Jackson said in a press release. “Drones are an emerging and exciting technology. But because they can easily travel over fences and other structures, we need to take extra precautions to ensure they don’t compromise our privacy and blur long-standing boundaries between public and private space.”
This article appears in Feb 5-12, 2015.