Creeps Are Using Drones to Spy on Women More Now Than Ever

When drone pilots aren't busy flying their UAVs into protected airspace, they may be creeping outside your window. Thanks to advances in aerial technology, now perverts-turned-pilots can peep into women's windows with their feet planted firmly on the ground. 

A Freedom of Information Act request reveals that illegal usage of drones has gone up 10 times over the past three years, Western Daily Press reports. Avon and Somerset Constabulary in the U.K. received five calls mentioning drones in 2013, 16 from January 2014 through December 2015 and 49 from January 2015 through August 2015. This increase includes complaints from women about drones flying near their windows. 

According to an Avon and Somerset Constabulary FOI request from 2014, the nature of these complaints include: "Caller reports neighbor is flying a drone with a camera over her house," and also "Caller says male is flying a drone near her window and appears to be trying to film her." 

This isn't the first, second or third instance of peeping Toms turning to drones to execute their dirty work, but it does reveal that as popularity for these tiny whirring pervert machines increases, so does the risk of a voyeur hovering outside an unsuspecting female's window. 

In July 2015, a man in Kentucky was arrested and charged with first degree criminal mischief and first degree wanton endangerment after shooting down an $1,800 drone that was hovering over his sunbathing daughter, the Washington Times reports. While the pilot claims he was photographing a friend's house, it doesn't skirt around the fact that drones offer peeping Toms a tool to more easily invade someone's personal space.

According to Examiner.com, the FAA predicts that there will be 7 million drones in the sky by 2020, meaning room for drone pilots behaving badly may reach new heights.