If you're not familiar with the idea of an 'auditor' in the YouTube & TikTok sense, it isn't someone who will check your finances – it's someone who will likely hide their own identity while 'exposing' another, be that a government building or someone's private wedding.
They attempt to feed an audience on sites by provoking a hostile reaction from property owners or security workers – often targeting something like a police station.
An 'auditor' will also think of themselves as having the law on their side, which is why they have been especially keen on the rules surrounding drones weighing under 250g.
Drones like the DJI Mini 4 Pro have minimal operating regulations and, in the UK, for example, once in the air, the airspace belongs not to the property owner but the aviation authority, so 'auditors' feel justified in taking off near someone's land, then flying over it and quoting this regulation.
These rules were written with hobbyist and professional photographers in mind, but when they are consistently used with not much more than the goal of annoying people, the result will inevitably be that the rules are re-written – and then the rules will change for all pilots, good and bad.
It seems very likely that the kind of person who deliberately antagonizes people and then obsesses over their click count for doing so will force hobbyist drone users who take beautiful video and photographs to go down the route of extensive and tiresome paperwork, or simply give up.
I'm not the only person worried about this either. Drone YouTubers have noted the number of complaints being made to the CAA (UK aviation authority) and FAA and complaints lead to law changes...
It can only be hoped that this small group of antagonists think about the harm they are potentially doing to the freedoms of so many more creators and hobbyists by smugly quoting the rulebook and trying to appear smart while they hide off camera like cowards.
In a world where there are things the police really need to be doing, what, possibly, is the benefit of buzzing police stations?
How to confront an 'auditor'
- Ideally, don't. They are likely using the drone as bait and hoping to record you with an action camera or something like that because the confrontation will make better clickbait. If you don't give them any, their trip is wasted.
- If you do speak to them, be calm, patient and nice. Again keep in the mind the goal is to be boring for their audience (and to make them seem unreasonable).
- If they have taken off from your property, this is trespass and you are entitled to ask them to leave. (They probably know this and will have taken off from public or publicly accessible land.)
- Take your own camera and document the experience. Keep the tape rolling.
- In the UK, ask to see their operator ID. They should have this on the drone (though it might be in the battery compartment). They don't have to give it, but it is a reasonable request.
- If you can, see if you can see the drone from their flying location and see if their screen shows whether it is 500m away or more. In the UK if the operator loses the ability to see the drone directly with their eyes (and small drones are hard to see much sooner than 500m), then they are breaking the rules.
Check out my recommendations for the best camera drones, or for the best drones for kids
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