Many of those "drone" sightings are not model aircraft. I spent hours reading over the FAA's list of UAV reports and their are many of them. Almost all are government agencies or contractors for the government that have wandered into controlled airspace or the ground pilot lost control of the craft. Supposedly like the models they have a return to home or some kind of direction in the software for getting to safe airspace and trying to contact its ground controller in the case of losing communication. But...And this is a real problem they don't always do what they are supposed to do.

We as modelers need to get out of the habit of calling model aircraft "drones." Drones have a negative connotation usually mean deadly unmanned vehicles. We fly models, small RC operated planes, helicopters, and quadcopters, some with FPV, some without. We don't fly DRONES! The FAA has has just released the proposed rules for commercial use of small remotely piloted aircraft and they are very fair. They presently don't have the Congressional authority to regulate model aircraft although they are probably going to ask for it and will get it from Congress with all these negative news reports going on. It's my understanding the AMA and most of the multicopter groups have agreed to the present suggested rules, 400' altitude, line of sight, FPV only with a spotter, etc. Except for model gliders there doesn't seem to be much reason to fly higher than 400' above ground level especially with FPV because the camera can't really see identifiable objects much higher and have little value in the way of entertainment for recorded video other than to just say, "Yea, I did it!"

I've been flying models since I was a kid and now I'm almost 72 and yes I have a DJI Phantom 2 w/FPV but I live in a rural area and don't fly over 400' and fly a minimum 100' over any residence. Most people who have seen the aircraft stop and look in awe at the FPV monitor. If I show them recorded video they think it's "so beautiful" but I point out how from altitude no one is identifiable because it is a limitation of the cameras used so they don't need to worry about snooping. All I have seen here and in other places seem satisfied as far as privacy goes.

How to stop the bad guy flying? I think many who post on YouTube are being justifiably chastised for their dangerous flying. Especially the high altitude flights but many of them are not in the U.S. but at least it lets U.S amateurs know they not flying safely by doing such flights. I don't think we need more regulation, we need to enforce the laws on the books now that any law enforcement officer can write a violation for. And that violation is, public and property endangerment. IMO that covers everything and lets a judge sort it out. Like others have mentioned outlawing something doesn't stop it from happening. Even banning won't work when with the Internet there are ways to get around most everything. They tried on Internet gambling in the U.S. and that didn't work out so good. They've banned guns in some cases and that didn't stop the murder and mayhem as England and Australia have found out.

FPV with GPS stabilized model aircraft are the future of modeling. The cat's out of the bag so to speak and it's only going to keep growing. For the time being there are limitations on electric flight due to physics but that even may change in the near future. Look how many people are maimed or killed by automobiles. Should they be banned. Banning is not the solution.