[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8729-8730]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             THE SPYING DRONE OVER A VIRGINIA NEIGHBORHOOD

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, last week, just after suppertime in a 
neighborhood in McLean, Virginia, a 14-year-old girl--we'll call her 
Sarah--was jumping on a neighbor's backyard trampoline. Suddenly, Sarah 
heard a

[[Page 8730]]

noise and looked up, only to see a low-flying object hovering overhead. 
It was a small, remote-controlled flying object. It was a drone. It had 
a blinking red light coming from it.
  The object hovered over her for about 10 minutes. She began to get 
real nervous and uneasy. So she jumped off the trampoline and ran home 
to tell her parents, but the flying object continued to follow her. She 
told her mother. So her mother walked outside into the street and 
observed the flying object. Suddenly, the object moved away into 
another neighbor's backyard, where three other teenage girls were 
sitting in the pool. The small drone hovered over them momentarily, 
then it moved away.
  The police were called. They arrived at the scene and told the 
citizens: ``Sorry, there's nothing we can do.'' Mr. Speaker, this 
sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie--someone up to no good 
spying on teenage girls with a drone.
  Mr. Speaker, drones are easy to find and easy to obtain. With a 
simple Google search, you will find out that one can buy a drone on 
eBay or go down the street and buy one at Radio Shack.
  According to the FAA, the group that monitors and issues permits for 
drones, by 2030, there will be 30,000 drones cruising American skies--
looking, observing, filming, spying, and hovering over America. We will 
not know who they are, what they're up to, what they're looking at, or 
what their purpose is, whether it's permitted or really not permitted, 
whether it's lawful or unlawful. And we won't know who's flying those 
drones.
  There are legitimate uses for government and private citizens for the 
use of drones, but a nosey neighbor or snooping government should not 
be able to spy on citizens without legal guidelines.
  As technology changes, Congress has the responsibility to be 
proactive and protect the Fourth Amendment right of all citizens--``The 
right of people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and 
effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be 
violated.'' Thus sayeth the Constitution.
  Nowadays especially, Americans are concerned about their Fourth 
Amendment rights being taken away. Well, no kidding. The right of a 
reasonable expectation of privacy is a constitutional right. The 
general rule is snooping, spying, surveillance, or eavesdropping goes 
against the basic rights outlined in the Constitution. That is why I 
have introduced the Preserving American Privacy Act, along with 
Representative Zoe Lofgren from California.
  Congress must be proactive in protecting the rights of civilians from 
private use and government use of drones. This legislation balances 
individual constitutional rights with legitimate government activity 
and the private use of drones. The bill sets forth clear guidelines, 
protects individual privacy, and informs peace officers so they will 
know what they can and cannot do under the law.
  There will be limits on government use of drones so that the 
surveillance of individuals or their property is only permitted or 
conducted when there is a warrant based on probable cause, as the 
Constitution requires.
  Of course there will be exceptions. They are called exigent 
circumstances, which is already in our law, and these will apply, as it 
does now, regarding search and seizure. Those exceptions include fire 
and rescue, monitoring droughts and floods, assisting in other 
emergency cases, or to chase a fleeing criminal.
  The bill also allows for the use of drones for border security. The 
bill also sets forth guidelines for the private use of drones. 
Basically, private citizens cannot use drones to spy on others without 
consent of the landowner or that person.
  Congress has the obligation to set forth guidelines, to secure the 
right of privacy, and protect citizens from unlawful drone surveillance 
while maintaining lawful private and government use.
  Drone laws are needed because a Peeping Tom should not be able to spy 
on young girls who are in the privacy of their backyards just because 
the Peeping Tom has the ability to do so.
  And that's just the way it is.

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