Good points. Agreed. How do you feel about the media using drones for news coverage and commercial companies using them for product delivery?
I don’t think a private citizen should be able to fly a drone over my property regardless of his limited financial resources or legal culpability. If he were using a camera or cell phone, he’d have to trespass on my property to record. Same should apply to a drone, IMHO.
Seriously, what are they going to see that can't be seen on Google Earth?
I would say that the airspace above a private residence should be traffic limited below a certain altitude (say 100 feet). This has more to do with noise abatement than privacy. Due to the necessity of flying, airspace has to be public space with restrictions.
As for news law enforcement, no problem. Flying over a residence to view the back yard is no different than an officer looking over the fence.
As for commercial, they should limit their flight paths to above 100’ and to the greatest extent possible, observe public roads.