Pacific Legal Foundation: Drones and property rights

Pacific Legal Foundation: Drones and property rights by Raymond Nhan:

As recreational drone use expands, hobbyists won’t be the only ones who are flying them. Reports suggest that law enforcement officials are considering adding drones to their tool kit. According to these reports, drones will give law enforcement a bird’s-eye view of major car crashes, active wildfires, and wreckage created by tornadoes and hurricanes.

But might the use of drones in other contexts violate the Fourth Amendment? Law enforcement’s use of drones to examine real property would implicate the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. It is important to determine whether the use of drones is a “search” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. If the use of drones results in a “search,” then the government needs to acquire a warrant to examine someone’s property. The use of drones to examine someone’s property will be a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment if: (1) the property owner shows a subjective expectation of privacy in the area examined, and (2) if society views that expectation of privacy as reasonable.

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