High-End Drones Sold on the Market
4K High-Definition Video Recording and Pilot Assistance Features
Concerns Over Criminal Misuse Such as Illegal Filming
Aerial photography drone. The photo is not related to any specific expression in the article. / Photo by Yonhap News
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Concerns over privacy invasion caused by drones are growing after an incident was reported in which a drone was flown near the window of a high-rise apartment in Suyeong-gu, Busan, illegally filming residents' sexual activities. It is reported that high-end drones possess very precise capabilities, such as detecting minute movements of objects tens of meters away.
According to the Busan Nambu Police Station on the 7th, two men in their 40s, including Mr. A, were arrested for illegally filming private scenes such as sexual activities of apartment residents using a drone on the 4th.
The police stated that the suspects used a drone to illegally film residents inside a high-rise apartment in Busan for three hours starting from midnight on the 19th of last month. During the three-hour flight, the drone crashed with a loud noise, and after receiving a report from residents that the drone had fallen on an apartment terrace, the police found numerous illegally filmed sexual videos inside the drone.
Mr. A, who came to retrieve the drone at the time, immediately fled upon seeing the police at the scene, but the police tracked and arrested him using closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage. It is reported that Mr. A and his acquaintance, a man in his 30s named Mr. B, operated the drone from the rooftop of a nearby building to approach the apartment.
Notably, the drone used for illegal filming was equipped with high-performance features such as repeatedly flying between two apartment buildings, automatically hovering when a "target" was detected, and a camera capable of zooming in dozens of times.
A drone deployed for social distancing monitoring at Gyeongpo Beach, Gangneung-si, Gangwon Province on July 16. / Photo by Yonhap News
As a result, concerns have been raised that high-performance drones could be used for crimes such as illegal video recording.
In fact, drones sold on online shopping malls and other markets priced around 1 million KRW generally support powerful filming functions such as high-definition 4K/60 frames per second (fps) video and HDR cameras as standard.
Especially, professional filming drones priced above 2 million KRW support sophisticated video recording functions capable of capturing subtle movements of objects about 10 to 20 cm even at distances over 100 meters.
Some drone cameras are equipped with a 'focus track' function that automatically follows moving subjects and films without shaking.
Additionally, high-performance drones are equipped with 'pilot assistance systems' that automatically avoid nearby structures or track specific targets. This makes it easy for operators without professional drone piloting training to fly between narrow buildings or around buildings while filming.
Some equipment also features real-time saving of recorded videos to the operator's laptop or smartphone storage device up to 10 km away. Even if the drone is damaged, the footage can be fully preserved, and if misused, it could enable evidence destruction.
The police have also seized Mr. A's computer and requested digital forensic analysis to investigate whether there are additional crimes.
Meanwhile, under the current Aviation Safety Act and Personal Information Protection Act, it is illegal to film places where there is a significant risk of invading personal privacy using video devices on drones or other unmanned aerial vehicles.
Furthermore, drone operators are prohibited from flying at night from sunset to sunrise, and violators may be fined up to 2 million KRW.
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