I'd do whatever I could to destroy or incapacitate it. It's on your private property. The things aren't cheap. Keep records of any future incursions, if you can't destroy it.

While I'd love to have one myself, the idea of even WANTING to snoop on my neighbors is beyond my mental pale.

Unfortunately, there really aren't many restrictions at this point. I would hope there are prohibitions on their use for voyeurism. I would definitely call the Sheriff's office.

If I still had a gun, I would try to bring it down.

Tricky with the gun thing, because they can "see" you aiming and would probably fly away. You'll need to get a drone blind . . .

Well, I would probably invest in a signal jammer....or a bazooka, lol...

See here (signal jammer at the bottom of the article):

http://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/drones/a20194/best-the-way-to-take-out-a-drone/

Ipink, I was sort of kidding. I probably couldn't hit a barn door and that's one of the reasons I no longer have a gun.

Agree with those who recommend shooting it. If I saw one outside my window, I wouldn't hesitate. If I missed, they'd know I tried & that should deter them.

I am angry for you just reading this.

Don't be too quick to grab a gun.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/28/style/neighbors-drones-invade-privacy.html

Linelle, that's what a shotgun is for :) DH wants me to replace my handgun (for protection) for a shotgun :o "But I'll blow holes all in my beautiful home!", I said. "But you'll also blow holes in the person trying to rob, rape or kill you, without even aiming. Just point in the general direction and fire". Decisions decisions!

What an awful thing, Lynne. I often spend time at a friend's house in Orlando where there's often a drone hovering around, but it never comes close enough that anyone could safely do anything about it. They couldn't shoot without shooting into a neighboring house.

Lynn, that would make me furious! I'm a great shot. Would you like me to come for a visit? :-)

Shotgun was the first thing that came to my mind too. Be stealthy and go for it. Like clay bird shooting. Definitely file a report.

Apparently I've read too many NYTimes articles for free this month and they've put me on timeout.

I would love to blow one of those stupid things out of the sky. It would be so tempting to moon the damn thing, but who knows where the pics would end up. Yes, kidding. But so tempting.

Lynn....I am really sorry this happened to you. I've not seen one, but the thought of them creeps me out big time. It would feel like a giant peeping tom! I think you're wise to call about this & get it on record. Let us know what they have to say about it.

Linelle, when that happens I switch to another browser or clear my recent history.

from the article:

"But I may be in the minority here. When I mentioned it to my wife, she was outraged by the intrusion and briefly contemplated buying a shotgun, should my neighbor’s drone reappear near our bedroom window. Unlike binoculars, she argued, a drone can actually enter your property and see from more invasive vantage points.

Not surprisingly, the law has not caught up to the technology. In 2013, the Congressional Research Service, a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress that provides analysis to Congress, published a report, “Integration of Drones Into Domestic Airspace: Selected Legal Issues,” that warned of the various ways in which drones could be used for “stalking, harassment, voyeurism and wiretapping.”

But the report also noted that “determining whether a drone in flight is trespassing upon one’s property may be unusually challenging.”

In some ways, the privacy concerns being raised about drones echo those from earlier technologies.

As a 1990 article in The New York Times noted, customers buying telescopes in cities were not hoping to see the stars, but rather into their neighbor’s windows. “We’re not selling morality here,” a telescope salesman said. “We’re selling binoculars and telescopes.” (The solution to this problem, police officers told people back then, was to close your blinds.)

But, as my wife argued, one privacy issue unique to drones is how they reach into crevices of your home that other technologies cannot.

I contacted Brian Farkas, an associate at Goetz Fitzpatrick, a New York law firm, who has written about drones and privacy, and asked about my legal rights. He explained that in old British common law there is a rule known as “ad coelum et ad inferos,” translated roughly as “to the heavens and to hell,” which granted people ownership of what was above and below their homes.

Although this rule no longer applies, he said that if a drone were to fly onto your property, you could potentially file a civil complaint against your neighbor. And in some states, drones flying into your window could be considered a criminal action, too.

But as that 2013 Congressional Research Service report noted, it’s all still very nebulous. Congress is currently working on a bill to regulate recreational drones, which is expected to address privacy, including air rights around people’s homes.

Until then, some help may be on the horizon for those who don’t want to be arrested for shooting down a drone. A group from Michigan Technological University applied for a patent this month for a “dronecatcher,” which is a specialized drone thatcan shoot a net (just like Spider-Man) and catch a drone in midair, incapacitating it but not destroying it."

I'm so sorry that you had this experience. I wonder if you could keep an unloaded or toy shotgun nearby and point it at the drone if you see it again. If an operator is watching, the sight of a muzzle might be enough to warn them to keep both their drone and themselves away from your house.

CindyMac, thanks for that tip!

We've had numerous similar instances and like you, reported on our NextDoor site. However, a neighborhood legal expert basically reiterated that the laws have not caught up with technology. In fact, someone destroyed a drone and was sued for damages by the owner!

Really unnerving:(

Cindy, thanks for that really interesting article! A 'dronecatcher" . . . who'd have thunk?! Still, I have to admit that if I get my hands on that drone, it most likely will be history. And, I did take all your advice and talked to the police again to file a report.

Oh, and BTW, after posting about my drone encounter on NextDoor, I received an email from another woman who had what we think is that same drone peeking in her bedroom window on that very same morning, as well! She lives about half a mile from me. So, those of us that live in this area are now pretty convinced that this is no crazy kid with a new toy, but a serious pervert targeting women in their bedrooms.

OK, now, I can't help but wonder why the two of us on that same day? Could we both know this perv? Or, did we both get his attention somehow or somewhere? At our local grocery, post office or bank? Did he follow us to see where we live? Yikes, that is starting to scare me a bit!

I did talk with a lieutenant from our local sheriff's dept. and he was no help at all. He did tell me that this pervert was probably somewhere on my property while he was operating the drone. That's scary, but if it happens again, I will immediately let out my Doberman, Knight, to find him, as I follow with my cellphone for taking pics and calling the police. I would NOT want Knight after me if I was a criminal, trespassing! He can be seriously intimidating.

Cattyles: Yes! Between the two us, we might nail him (LOL). I'm the nicest person . . . until something like this happens and it makes me so angry! I want to go for the jugular (figuratively, that is).

I've read every post here and thank you all for your words of encouragement and for the info. I'll get back here tomorrow for a follow up, but right now I need to get dinner started.

You might also take a picture of the drone and send it to the sheriff.

Last summer a drone hovered over our house and just the sound was like a giant mosquito. Saw one over the library the other day, but then the library posted the photo taken from the drone, so I suppose it was innocent.

Very creepy - shooting it was the first thing that came to my mind.

I didn't realize we had so many pro-gun members here. GTK! ;)

If the drone spied on two of you, my guess is it's a neighbor. They would have a general idea of who is in which house, who might be home during the day, how long it would take the sheriff to respond to a call (giving them time to get the drone home), etc.

It's too bad drones are legal. Some drones have to be registered according to their weight.

It's one of two things. Someone in your neighborhood, no matter how rural it is, has a drone & they're not going to tell you. Or someone probably parked their car close by and to scope out your house.

For the time being, maybe the next few months, this is what I'd do if I were you.

Do you have a home alarm system? If not get one. If you do, keep it turned on while you're home, even if DH is home with you. Home invasions are rampant.

Make sure you have blinds or curtains in all the rooms, and close them at night. People always say no one can see in their windows at night. Wanna bet?

I'd get a gun for protection only in case of an invasion. But since you can't shoot a drone, buy a children's black gun and paint/tape over the markings showing it's a child's gun. Or buy a BB gun and don't put bb's in it. If the drone appears again, point the gun towards it and watch it zoom away.

Keep your phone on you in case it comes back and take a picture of it. A drone expert can tell if the drone is supposed to be registered.

Do you have outside cameras? If not, I'd get some.

Living in a rural area is more dangerous than people think. 99% of the time it's peaceful, but because of the possible previous attempted robbery, you need to be on high alert.

Keep shades drawn in the day if you can, TV on low, and that way if you hear a buzzing sound, grab your "gun" and camera.

You don't need to do this forever, but for the time being, I think your house interior should be off limits.

And don't answer the door to strangers! lol

I'd practice my softball pitching.

I was going to suggest a net gun that shoots out a net...they use them for wildlife and such. No reason it can't work on a drone...

Operators have to be registered with the FAA. I think they should be required to file a flight plan that is publicly available/accessible. They could do it electronically. If you are going to fly a drone, you should have to give notice. I think this could really cut down on the crazy people that fly these things for nefarious purposes and it would give law enforcement a pool of people to contact when there are incidents like this.

I tend to agree with hhireno, or if not a neighbor someone who knows
the layout of both your houses, specifically where the bedrooms are
located. (I know, even creepier.) But I was thinking about it. Those
drones do make a loud annoying mosquito-like buzzing noise like bpathome
said. The one buzzing us would hover, fly off, and return. It did that
multiple times. Our neighborhood has lots of tall tress and that day
there was Sunday afternoon background noise. We could hear it
buzzing above the trees maybe 100' away, so we heard it before we saw it but it was tricky determining
exactly where it was. By the time it got 30-50' away we could definitely
pinpoint where it was coming from till it came into sight. In your situation, if it was a
stranger they'd have to fly it around the exterior of both houses and
close enough to see into your windows till it found your bedrooms. That
would've taken extra time and I'm thinking at some point one of you
would have heard it doing that.

I use netting to cover my backyard pond in fall to keep leaves out. Something like that might work to snare
your drone buddy since it came in so low & close. It would look kind of cheesy, but if it's in back of the house who cares! You'd have to put it up on poles and/or anchor it to the house (similar to a canopy). Either position it so it's completely horizontal maybe 8-10' up or angle it so it's higher close to the house and pinned to the ground further out. Maybe clipped to gutters then pinned to ground? It could work since
your drone came in so close & wasn't that high off the ground. It comes in different sizes. Pond Netting

Or better yet, netting fabric. One year in a pinch I had to get some from the fabric to cover the pond and it's difficult to see. It looked like this. That would be cheaper. If you got a color like white or one that blended in with the background colors a single layer of it would be very difficult to see before the drone was right on top of it (and hopefully snagged in it). Or hey, it's Halloween season, put a bunch of those cob webs up!

ETA: I just saw Justin Young's post. I was reading about the registration rule earlier. (I did a search of my county and there's only 1 UAV registered so most people aren't doing it.) But if you want to try it put in your state & county you'll get a list of small planes, UAVs, etc. Then to avoid wading through it all use your browser's 'Find' or 'Search Page' feature for "UAV". FAA Registry

This just reminded me that we once saw a mini helicopter hovering outside our condo living room window, must be 7-8 years ago now. It clearly belonged to one of our upstairs neighbours. My husband was on the lookout for a Flowers By Irene van. I think it was probably too small to have a camera in it at the time.

I got my new Hammacher Schlemmer catalog the other day, and I saw some drones in it. I thought of your post.

There's a drone called a "High Definition Camera Drone" which says it can take high-def pictures and video from 300' away. It's $250. There's another called a "Live Feed Video Drone" that sends live video from up to half a mile away for $500. And another really elaborate one, the "Professional Cinematographer's 4K Video Drone," for $5,400 that enables 2 operators to partner for optimal content capture from up to 3 miles away.

Lots of choices for tech-savvy peepers. I am still totally creeped out by your experience of looking at the drone looking back at you. *shudder*

No doubt they've got night vision features for these creeps prime time viewing pleasure.

Eww, night vision! Now that really creeps me out! Well, the sheriff's department has the info now. I'm just hoping that they can find and arrest this jerk.

Moonshadow: I imagine that if this pervert is using this drone to peek into bedroom windows, he probably hasn't registered it.

They need to crack down on these type of devices and get real tough with these creepy dudes before they escalate. Activities such as peeping are precursor behavior for sexual predators.

Lynn, your peeping drone reminds me when we lived in Norman, in my early 20's. I was laying in bed getting ready to go to sleep, the blinds and windows were open because it was summer, and I looked out and saw a peeping Tom peeking in the window of a duplex next door. Three girls lived there. I was freaked!

It didn't even occur to me to call the police. lol. But I did go over there and told them what I saw. It was so weird, they acted like it wasn't a big deal. Okaaay.

LynneNM, I can appreciate how creeped out you must be. I know someone with a drone. That person uses it for fun -- taking aerial video of nearby farmland, coast and scenery. IIRC from what I was told, there are restrictions, some of which are built-in. They all have GPS and many/most have high definition zoom cameras. One restriction built into the drone firmware is that the drone cannot operate within (something like) 5 miles from an airport.

I seem to recall from our conversation that the drone will not operate until it has been properly registered with the FAA.

I've read that the cameras on drones cannot see through the windows of homes. (But perhaps if the drone camera is outfitted with a particular filter -- like a polarizing lens -- it could. I don't know.

I suspect that legally operating drones have an ID number on them, although I'm not sure.

You can buy (if you don't already own) a good HD video camera with zoom, or even a good high optical zoom/video capable digital camera. These are great tools to have for all sorts of things and won't break the bank. Keep it charged and nearby.

One idea: I found a $3 yard sale plug in party strobe light. The light frequency can be dialed to long or very short interval flash frequency. You could get one of these and set it on a power strip and use as needed to screw up the drone's camera light meter.

The drone operator needn't have been on your property, I don't think. The range might be a mile or so and perhaps he/she was on a public road.

I would not try to tamper with the device unless you're sure about all the legal details.

Any known drug traffickers around? People in the Witness Protection Program? (Kidding).

I hope you find some answers and don't see it again. Got any motion-activated sprinklers? For deer, of course.

Oakley, OMG, that is so funny! How could they not be creeped out?!?

Petalique: thank you for all that info! You asked jokingly is there was anyone around here in the Witness Protection Program. Actually, Rio Rancho, NM, is supposed to be a major placement town for people in that. I don't live there, but It is down near Albuquerque, on the west side of the Rio Grande. Drug Traffickers? Well, again, New Mexico is right across the border from Mexico, so that's always a possibility, but we're a loooong way from the border, thank goodness!

Motion activated anything placed up high enough to be set off by a drone is a very interesting idea. So is the strobe light. Thanks!

Did you report it to anyone? Any official word on what it might have been?

How scary and irritating. I sometimes wonder if neighbors are peeping with telescopes but this is just too much. When we moved into our house recently, there were no window coverings at all! I was amazed that previous owners weren't bothered by the sun much less living in a fish bowl.

Can you bring it down with a power washer with super high pressure? It's safer than a gun.....or set up a security camera system......

I'd be so excited to catch it to bring it down.

Google DroneDefender.

Since this thread has been revived, an acquaintance who lives in an 8th-floor oceanfront condo told me a while ago that they had a problem with one hovering outside their unit. She finally paintballed it.

Any updates, lynn, on this year-old thread? (LOL at the paintball comment!)

Love the strobe light idea. It kind of reminds me of the Jimmy Stewart movie where he was a photographer and used a flash on a camera to stop an advancing murderer from killing him. I think it was called rear window?

I have blinds and blackout drapes on my bedroom window. now I'm so glad I've always done that. It has become very weird out there with flying peeping and snooping devices.

Oh my goodness, it was so surprising to see this old thread of mine show up today! Hmmmm, OK, this is what I did in the days and weeks right afterwards.

1) I called the sheriffs department and filed a complaint, which was pretty much worthless. They could only do something IF they saw it themselves or if I captured it.

2) I sent every home on my road an email telling them the details of what I saw and when, etc. And how angry and violated it made me feel.

3) I belong to our community NextDoor online website. I posted pretty much the same thing. THAT really got many, many people talking, and exchanging experiences and ideas. And voicing a lot of anger.

Both of these were good things as I was sure that the voyeur/pervert was a nearby neighbor in the area. Meaning, he would see this and the uproar it was causing. And hopefully stop.

4) Finally, I talked with my adult son who works in the intelligence field for X (I can’t go into details for who), but VERY big. He’s not only brilliant in his field of expertise, but knows people who can and will go over any captured drone with unbelievable expertise, in their spare time as a favor to my son. Fingerprints, any data or photos found, etc., etc.

This I posted on our NextDoor website and sent to all my neighbors, encouraging everyone to be diligent, watching for it, and how to capture it preserving any possible fingerprints, etc. I told them I now had access to an expert who I would send it to to retrieve any and all identifying data. And that I absolutely would not only hire an attorney to pursue legal action to the nth degree, but that I would also contact all the tv outlets with that info as well. And I was/am very serious about this.

I think, I hope, that I put the fear of god in this guy’s heart, as we haven’t spotted a drone since then. But, I am always watching now.

Sadly, though, this incident brought back a kind of PTSD for me, as I was the subject of an attempted kidnapping when I was younger in order to gain access to my father’s banks. It thankfully failed thanks to quick action by the FBI, but the fear of vulnerability, of never feeling totally safe, was all brought back in a heartbeat by this jerk! It took well over six months for me to feel semi-comfortable with drapes open here. . . and this place has many huge doorwalls and windows, most without drapes. That fear still revisits me now and then. I hate the fact that these drones are now so readily available to anyone, and can steal away your privacy . . . and more, on a whim!

Lynn so sorry this has continue to haunt you. So sad that you ever had to experience that kind of trauma leading to post-traumatic stress disorder! ((((Lynn)))).

I hate giving these people any power! I've read some fairly interesting reports about Therapies that have worked for some people. Like for soldiers drawing pictures of their trauma. Maybe you need some help to work through the angst. Not the anger though that is completely understandable. I just hate to see anyone suffer. I hope you don't mind my saying this.

I'm sorry it came up again if it brings up all of the feelings. Thank you though for sharing what you have done. It may help someone in that situation.

I am glad you haven't seen the drone again, Lynn. How frightening it must have been to have been the victim of an attempted kidnapping. Idk if you have ever heard of EMDR for trauma/PTSD, but it helped me with some issues in that area, and many more practitioners are trained in the technique now.

Check out the black friday ads. Everyone can have a drone.

Oh, Lynn, how awful for you to have such horrible memories roused- to say nothing of how terrifying it must have been for you to go through as a young woman.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts. Yes, the attempted kidnapping was very traumatic, and so was this Peeping Tom drone incident. Very. And, yes, I did seek some counseling after the drone because the after effects for me were much more severe than I thought they should be. It did help a lot. But, here it is thirteen months later, I’m sitting in bed . . . and glancing out the doorwall every few minutes, just to make sure the drone isn’t back.

I'm sorry for bumping this post up.

Don’t be, Sunfeather, it is what it is. I’m doing ok, and I think I got the word out to our community in such an aggressive, in-your-face way that it scared the begeebers out of the creep. I’m more aware again, and that’s probably a positive thing. Thank you for your interest and concern, though.