CA company files charges against man for using his t-shirt to swat their $1350 drone to the ground

[Xithras]

124. California law prohibits photographing a homes "private" areas from the outside.

What this means, in practice:

- Any outdoor area on your property is not private. If it can be seen from off your property, it can be photographed from off your property. This includes your backyard. If your neighbor wants to climb his tree and take pix of your backyard, he can legally do so.

- An enclosed outdoor area on your property cannot be photographed if the pictures will capture someone in any state of undress. Your neighbor can climb his tree and photograph your backyard over your privacy fence every day of the week without breaking the law. But if you're sunbathing nude in your backyard and he takes the photos, he's committed a serious crime. By removing your clothing, you have converted the "public" area of your backyard into a "private" area. Note that this ONLY applies if the backyard is well fenced and you have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

- Outdoor shots of your home that happen to catch glimpses into your home are legal, so long as the intent wasn't to photograph the inside of your house. If you have your curtains open as the Google camera car drives by, and the resulting shot of your house shows the inside of your living room, no laws have been broken.

-Photographs that are taken from off your property that are specifically focused through your windows, or are focused on your windows in such a way that capturing the inside of your home is clearly the intent, are illegal. It's actually a felony.

-Photographs taken through a window from anywhere ON your property, without your permission, are always illegal.