Attorney Franz Borghardt Discusses Drones, Property Rights, and the Law

Guest Segment: Franz Borghardt on Drones, Property Rights, and the Law

• Drone Takedown Legality: Borghardt explores whether homeowners can legally shoot down a drone hovering over their property, noting firearm use risks violating state and federal airspace laws.
• Curtilage vs. Altitude: Higher-altitude drones flying lawfully are legally similar to commercial jets passing overhead, but low-altitude drones actively surveying or recording property raise real privacy concerns.
• Layered Regulation: Drone law spans FAA federal guidelines, state statutes, and a growing patchwork of city ordinances, plus apps that show where flying is legally permitted.
• Law Enforcement Drone Conflicts: When police use a warranted drone to surveil a property, destroying it likely won't trigger property-damage charges, paralleling precedent on removing warranted GPS trackers.
• Amazon Delivery Drone Concerns: Delivery drones raise noise and surveillance complaints from uninvolved neighbors along the flight path who never consented to being recorded or having data monetized.
• Drone Impersonation Crime: The hosts discuss whether criminals could disguise drones as commercial ones (like Amazon) to commit theft, surveillance, or industrial espionage undetected.
• Advanced Sensing Tech Risk: Ground-penetrating radar (used to study pyramid substructures) could theoretically be miniaturized for drones to see through walls, raising serious future privacy and security threats.
• Emerging Child Safety Angle: Borghardt predicts espionage-focused drone laws will eventually expand to address predators using drone-mounted cameras to surveil homes and children, not just corporate targets.