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The FAA’s flight restriction for drones is an attempt to criminalize filming ICE
- nandomrumber 6mo ago[flagged]
- calmbonsai 6mo agoYou don't, but legal precedent errs on the side of transparency and anyone who's flying a drone (legally) in an urban environment in the U.S. already has FAA permitting.
- quantified 6mo agoWell, by that logic, drones must not fly at all. Unless you say that a grenade over your own head must also be disallowed.
- nandomrumber 6mo agoIsn’t it already prohibited to fly a drone over my head, unless it’s in the sub 250 gram category.
- quantified 6mo agoI doubt it, how does anyone know where your head is? Anyway, sounds like no new law is needed.
- nandomrumber 6mo agoHere you go, says it right here: You must never fly over a person. And that you need a permit to fly within 30m of people without their consent and within 15m with their consent. I believe the US regs are the same. https://www.casa.gov.au/drones/flight-authorisations/flying-over-and-near-people https://www.casa.gov.au/drones/flight-authorisations/flying-...
- loloquwowndueo 6mo agoHow do you tell a difference between a phone with a camera and a phone with a grenade. Filming ICE is no longer allowed.
- badlucklottery 6mo ago> You can still film ICE / CBP from the ground. "How do you tell the difference between a protestor with a camera and a protestor with a grenade?" Do you see how the assumption of extreme (and very unlikely) danger is bad excuse for violating people's rights?
- nixosbestos 6mo agoLook at the first sentence of their bio. It would be rude of me to offer my opinion on their mental state, is all I'm going to say.
- nandomrumber 6mo agoI don’t understand. Are you saying the electricity I use hasn’t increased at a rate 2.6 times faster than general inflation. Or are you saying that, for example, my low-energy-per-wash washing machine is maintainable despite having a welded drum? Or that my phone does have a user replaceable battery.
- random3 6mo agohow can you tell the difference between anything and anything?
- blooalien 6mo ago> "how can you tell the difference between anything and anything?" You can't until the overlord(s) you've delegated all your thinking to tells you what you saw.
- nandomrumber 6mo agoWhich is amusing, because it’s you lot here literally doing the groupthink. I guess my comment may have been received better if I framed it in the devils advocate / steel manning context.
- mindslight 6mo agoThe Devil doesn't need an advocate, he won the election.
- Terr_ 6mo agoYour comment reads like: "This blanket prohibition is justified, because any drone could potentially be dangerous or appear dangerous, and DHS deserves unique and special legal privileges to trample on your rights for some reason." If you intended something different, it's not sufficiently obvious. The most-charitable twist I can come up with is: "In addition to the first amendment, could the second amendment also be a factor in striking down this policy as unjustified?" > You can still film ICE / CBP from the ground. The same logic, tomorrow: "How do you reeealy tell the difference between a phone and a weapon in someone's hand? It's too hard! It makes us scared! Don't film or else we'll jail you or kill you like Alex Pretti."
- JuniperMesos 6mo ago[flagged]
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- fzeroracer 6mo agoI had a much longer bit about your factually incorrect framing of the incident with Pretti, but I'll just say that it's really insane that we still have people here on HN that are repeating lies by the state to cover what was clearly an extrajudicial murder. The video evidence cannot be more clear.
- Jtsummers 6mo ago> How do you tell the difference between a drone with a camera and a drone with a grenade. Today, it makes as much sense to worry about this as it does for me to worry about a tsunami hitting my home at 7200' above sea level. It's not happening, worry about it and implement policies when people start using grenade-drones.
- tomrod 6mo agoI agree with the EFF here. Government operators must operate in the daylight.
- jauntywundrkind 6mo agoIn general the Trump administration is the most emergency based folks on the planet. If it's not for emergency reasons, it's for national security reasons. None of it is explained or backed. They just take the hallpass and fuck off to do whatever the hell they like. Axios had good coverage of this. https://www.axios.com/2025/04/18/trump-national-emergency-declarations https://www.axios.com/2025/04/18/trump-national-emergency-de... Brazen mis-governance. I think it's particularly insulting to call so many things emergencies, threats. This is the work of the rankest, lowest cowards, to sabotage our nation with such false lightly thrown around accusations, for such fake purposes. Exploitative creeps! Edit: what timing! Oh look, new Constitutional crisis just dropped, with Trump again seizing the power of the purse from congress! He's declaring rule over OMB to fund DHS, because (you guessed it) National Emergency!! https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/04/liberating-the-department-of-homeland-security-from-the-democrat-caused-shutdown/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/04/libe...
- iwontberude 6mo agoThanks for the links. Hopefully things get bad enough people actually take control of government again. I personally used to scoff at CalExit but now seeing how easy it is for a government to abuse you from a distance, I would much prefer Sacramento the ultimate seat of power for my community, family and interests.
- Terr_ 6mo agoA marginally less-extreme option would be to start subdividing larger states. The Constitution does not permit amendments to change the "equal" representation of states in the Senate, but we can even the playing field by making it easy for large states to subdivide for the benefit of the people.
- 15155 6mo agoAwesome idea: Texas can become four states, Northern California can become a state, Northwest Dakota, Northeast Dakota, and Upper New York can all become states too with equal Senate representation. Or did you perhaps have some gerrymandering-esque idea to limit these 'benefits' to liberal metropolitan areas?
- jddecker 6mo agoHow does this work if they are not clearly defined on a map? Usually TFRs are shown on drone maps so you know where you can fly. If I am flying my drone and an unmarked ICE vehicle drives within half a mile am I in trouble?
- tremon 6mo agoYes. You not knowing whether you are in trouble or not is a feature, not a bug.
- trhway 6mo agothat is the point - to make you scared to fly your drone, anywhere, anytime. That is among the main differences between democratic society and the rest - a citizen of democratic society knows the extent of his rights, and where he would be crossing the line into violation of law, and that makes the citizen pretty assertive in his rights. That assertiveness isn't compatible with the non-democratic societies (or with authoritarian abuses of power in a [still overall] democratic society).
- ceejayoz 6mo ago> If I am flying my drone and an unmarked ICE vehicle drives within half a mile am I in trouble? That depends on whether you support Dear Leader.
- evil-olive 6mo agoyep. the disconnect you're feeling comes from thinking you're living within the normative state, when in fact you're under the prerogative state: > The dual state is a model in which the functioning of a state is divided into a normative state, which operates according to set rules and regulations, and a prerogative state, "which exercises unlimited arbitrariness and violence unchecked by any legal guarantees". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_state_%28model%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_state_%28model%29
- y0eswddl 6mo agoI'd argue all top down states are "prerogative"... and "normative" is merely a temporary alignment of expectations and exercised power
- vkou 6mo agoHow exactly is anyone supposed to comply with this, given that neither the FAA nor ICE are telling anyone where ICE vehicles and operations are. (The answer is obvious - it's impossible to comply with it.)
- voakbasda 6mo agoThis is not a rule designed to ensure compliance. It’s designed to punish anyone they choose. Make no mistake, getting targeted by this will be severely punishing, even if the courts ultimately throw it out.
- yahway 6mo ago[dead]
- Aurornis 6mo agoFlying a drone within 1/2 mile of ICE vehicles, which may be unmarked, is illegal? You can be flying a drone and if an unmarked ICE vehicle drives close enough, without warning, you have now broken serious FAA laws? This isn’t the kind of restriction that gets passed when the people making the rules care about being fair or consistent. It’s a power grab.
- idle_zealot 6mo agoThis is par for the course for rules regarding law enforcement. A group of armed men bust down your door in the middle of the night without identifying themselves. They're aiming guns at you and your family. Are you allowed to fire on them with your legally owned firearm? The law says yes, but also that police are allowed to be those people knocking down the door and shoot you if you aim a gun at them. So if that happens, who is in the wrong? Courts have been dodging the question, but in practice the answer is that you're going to be killed and the police won't be liable. You can do everything right and law enforcement is allowed to arrest you, steal your shit, destroy your property, or kill you, and officially you're the criminal for perfectly normal and normally legal behavior.
- gruez 6mo ago>Courts have been dodging the question It's not hard to find contradictions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Ridge_standoff#Trials_of_Weaver_and_Harris https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Ridge_standoff#Trials_of_... If by "courts" you mean appellate (precedent setting) courts, cases like these usually never get to that stage because cases like these are straightforward enough that juries can rule on them without lawyers getting into esoteric arguments.
- helterskelter 6mo agoI expect a court would rule against the government if they tried to enforce this against somebody unknowingly flying within a 1/2 mile of an unmarked ICE vehicle. I'd feel sorry for the poor soul that would have to fight it though.
- jimbob45 6mo ago
- charcircuit 6mo ago[flagged]
- ceejayoz 6mo ago> It should be possible to get rid of 99% all illegals in less than 2 years. The Nazis couldn't even manage it with a smaller population in six years.
- charcircuit 6mo agoTechnology has advanced a lot since then. We should be able to enforce laws better now than compared to any point in history.
- ceejayoz 6mo ago"It's fine, AI lets us automate the concentration camps!"
- charcircuit 6mo agoEven without AI there have been many advances such as video cameras or dna which can be used as evidence to help solve crimes. This idea that "the nazis had laws so it is bad for us to also have laws" is not going to work on people anymore.
- ceejayoz 6mo agoYes, and doing that still takes time. Murder trials take years and significant human time. Even parking tickets require several people to show up in a physical location to address if you contest them. So, you either do the proper, constitutionally required procedure - which takes time - or you take the Nazi approach of... significant shortcuts. And even there, it remains quite labor intensive. And now, oops… lettuce is $20/head, and the international community is working to send you to The Hague.
- nickphx 6mo agoIt's so great here it's like a third world shit hole.
- youknownothing 6mo agoIANAL but mens rea is a serious consideration here. A prosecutor would have to prove that you have knowingly and wilfully committed the crime in order to be convicted, so unmarked cars are in practice out of scope. I think the main implication is that you won't be able to use any drone recordings for legal action against ICE unless you can prove that you recorded from further than 3,000 feet (one hell of a camera) or that you did it "accidentally", e.g. I was just filming my friends and ICE agents suddenly busted out of an unmarked car that happened to be within the frame. Even then, you'd have to stop recording pretty soon because at that point they could argue that it becomes wilful recording.
- smallmancontrov 6mo agoNo, the point isn't just to stop legal action against ICE, it's also to go after anyone who posts drone footage that goes viral. Party of free speech, btw.
- youknownothing 6mo agoyeah, that too, good point.
- gzread 6mo agoWe should make a website outside the US for posting drone footage of ICE anonymously.
- my_throwaway23 6mo agoPut it in Sweden[0]. At least you'd have de jure source protection. [0]: https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Källskydd https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Källskydd
- Y-bar 6mo agoYes, but this is in effect since 2023: > Proposed new law could see Swedish media prosecuted for espionage > Swedish media outlets who uncover news which damages Sweden's relations abroad could be charged with spying, if a controversial law gets the go-ahead. https://www.thelocal.se/20171207/new-law-could-see-swedish-media-prosecuted-for-espionage/ https://www.thelocal.se/20171207/new-law-could-see-swedish-m...
- Herring 6mo agoReminder that the most reliable way to prevent the rise of the far right is to implement robust safety nets and low inequality, to reduce status anxiety and grievance. Support for such measures (welfare, healthcare, unionization, high taxes etc) is usually low among Americans. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/10/welfare-cuts-are-fuelling-far-right-rise-warns-un-expert https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/10/welfare-cuts...
- jeffbee 6mo agoI thought it was to simply throw fascists into the sea. Simple Effective Affordable Ethical
- nine_k 6mo ago"Why won't all good people rally together and kill all bad people?"
- SV_BubbleTime 6mo agoIt’s so strange because obviously my people are the good ones and everyone knows that!
- gruez 6mo ago>Effective The problem with political violence is that the other side will do the same thing, and you end up with an IRA situation where the country descends into sectarian violence.
- anonymousiam 6mo ago[flagged]
- Ar-Curunir 6mo agoNobody is going to give you an award for licking the boot dude.
- BSOhealth 6mo agoFirst amendment applies to citizens, not just “media organizations”. Serious contradiction between your major advocacy about protecting ICE and your minor hedge to avoid getting ghosted.
- mhitza 6mo ago> The anti-ICE protesters have been well organized, well equipped, Civilians being well organized and well equipped (?) is a problem why? > and sometimes violent And yet the videos coming out of the US, of protesters being shot by ICE where non violent. > for the purposes of collecting intelligence on their targets (who are federal law enforcement agents). What does "target" mean exactly, I haven't read anything other than doxxing agents, annoying, and verbally harrasing them? Also, I'd be more wary about the state if things when there's plethora news circulating of US law enforcement buying up all kinds of data for flagging undesirable citizens. More so when Palantir is involved and the developed tech is any authoritarians wet dream.
- valbaca 6mo agoEveryone gets the first amendment
- vunderba 6mo agoIt's true, I heard that in recent news protesters have gone from assaulting ICE officers with the smaller 6-inch subs to using entire footlongs. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/man-who-threw-sandwich-at-federal-agent-in-d-c-says-it-was-a-protest-prosecutors-say-its-felony-assault https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/man-who-threw-sandwich-a...
- steele 6mo ago
- HNisCIS 6mo agoI'm gonna say something bold here: if you're doing anything remotely edgy with a drone (read: you're not a 107 on contact with a mega corp) learn to build them, don't buy a DJI. Pilots are getting hammered because of RemoteID to the point where it's more of a liability to have it than to not have it. It would be like if license plates weren't enforced but speed cameras always sent you a $10,000 bill and took your license away. You can build a decent stealthy fpv system for under 1k including ground equipment. Use PrivacyLRS or OpenHD, Ardupilot or Betaflight, and an AM32 ESC board. Do not use anything from DJI, non-AM32 ESCs (deeply painful to flash/configure/update), or older radios like spektrum. Disable all onboard GPS and video logging. Avoid ELRS beyond initial testing, it's painful to decode but not encrypted. PrivacyLRS runs on the same boards so you can reflash once everything else is tested.
- LightBug1 6mo agoAs someone outside of the USA, and who visited for some time a couple of decades ago and bathed in it's relative freedoms ... reading the discussion here and some of the comments almost makes me weep... You're already living on the doorstep of fascism. Contemplating the right-thing-wrong-think of it all dressed up as legal debate. A discussion and debate you'll likely never fully and truly conclude for obvious reasons.
- TiredOfLife 6mo agoIt's funny how everyone on HN is against filming people in public places except when they don't like said people and suddenly filming is OK.
- macintux 6mo agoMany on HN are opposed to the government trying to protect itself from the exposure of illegal or unpopular actions.
- thfuran 6mo agoYou think it’s unreasonable to believe that expectation of privacy ought to apply differently to the general population than it does to government officials carrying out their duties? Would you also say it’s inconsistent for me to support FOIA without wanting my personal communications to be subject to it?
- jmye 6mo agoWould be wonderful if we could leave the blatantly transparent, false equivalencies on Facebook and Twitter where they’re more becoming of the general user base, and maybe try to be slightly more thoughtful, eh?
- contubernio 6mo agoSecrecy is anathema to government accountability. It is not the same to film private persons as it is to film government agents.
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- Bender 6mo agoThis only restricts flying. Ground based drones do not fly. Problem solved.
- DiscourseFan 6mo agoNobody is even talking about the worst part...the worst part is, that Trump's economic policies are working, at least according to the latest jobs data. Artificially restricting the labor pool, creating massive corporate levies, forcing businesses to hire domestic labor at the same time. Growth has slowed, freedom and movement have slowed, but the "working class" (except Mexicans and other immigrants I guess) is getting what they want: exceptional job security and good wages. This is always the course of a successful fascist regime: you can't go too far, you can't go and exterminate 10% of your population, you can't completely cut off exports and imports. No; remember, for all his faults, Louis the III rebuilt Paris, he created vital infrastructure, plumbing--the streets were clean, orderly. Designed specifically to prevent uprisings, so large sections could be cordoned off; main streets sold to friends of the regime. It didn't work, of course, and it hasn't ever "worked" long term. Capitalism unleashes energies that cannot be rested by state violence. Energies that must be embraced and overcome from within themselves--the freedom that lets you start a business from nothing or creating a product out of almost thin air with just the tools at your disposal and the people you want to work with, unbound by market forces, the traditional family, any religious institutions. But it can't happen easily, and it won't be fun either. Only fascism ever gets to be "fun," and then its terrible.
- JaceDev 6mo ago[flagged]
- pitched 6mo agoNon-American here. Letting ICE have anti-drone weapons feels like the step in this escalation. Is no one over there panicking about that or is it seen as a generally better option than regulations?
- fooqux 6mo agoThere's plenty of people panicking, just not the ones in position to affect any change. It's a fairly commonly-held belief that certain high up individuals want the protests to escalate so that they can point to them as examples of the lawlessness they've been warning about and/or declare martial law. That's just one reason protesters have been trying their utmost to not let things escalate. People are trying to do things "the right way" through legislation as well but that's extremely slow.
- politician 6mo ago[flagged]
- siwakotisaurav 6mo agoYea some opinions are just widely shared I guess hn shouldn’t be this political mr … politician
- convolvatron 6mo agoI have yet to see any statement from the conservative perspective giving any rationale whatsoever to justify restrictions on recording police activity in public spaces. or any of the other erosions of civil liberties. I would personally love to understand why this is necessary. The only opinion expressed here seems to be that immigration is such a existential issue that we don't need to bother with due process or any of that other crap, and the the other side is really just as bad. I remain deeply confused about efforts to ensure that the 'conversative viewpoint' is fairly expressed in forums like the universities, because there really just doesn't seem to be a meaningful conservative viewpoint at all. global warming is actually happening. vaccines save lives. ICE is acting unconstitutionally. these are just facts. if you want to call them into question loud mouthed assertions just aren't sufficient, show up with some kind of actual argument. wanting to step up immigration enforcement is a totally legitimate policy position. claiming that federal agents don't need to obey the constitution kinda isn't really.
- Ms-J 6mo agoWouldn't it be possible to use a printed drone or one with flashed firmware to remove the spying such as broadcasting an ID? If the drone is stolen by the police there wouldn't be any identifying info and by that time the operator would be able to leave the area without them tracing the signal back to the source.