Arizona State Legislature

Sonny Borrelli

Citing privacy concerns, an Arizona lawmaker wants to outlaw flying a drone over someone else's property and taking pictures or videos.

The proposal by Rep. Sonny Borrelli would make it a crime to use an unmanned aircraft to "intentionally photograph, electronically record, collect information, conduct surveillance or gather evidence'' over private property without first getting written consent of the owner.

But Borrelli says he wants to make sure the potential law has no unintended consequences. "I don't want to make some teenager a felon because he's got a toy he's flying around spying on the neighbor's daughter. We need to be reasonable about this."

Media attorney Dan Barr said there may already be sufficient privacy protections in the law. He said existing statutes are built around the concept of a reasonable expectation of privacy.

"You have a reasonable expectation of privacy in your house. But if you walk around with the window shades open, if people can see you from the street, you don't have that expectation," he said.

Barr adds the same privacy rules applied to Peeping Toms should apply to drones as well.