As I understand it, the current state of the law (in the US at least) is that airspace is considered a public space governed by the FAA and you have no expectation of privacy in your front/back yard. It's basically the same as satellite imagery being made publicly available on eg Google Earth.
Whether this is or is not "right" in the age of ubiquitous drone availability is up to us (via our government) to decide/change.
Disclaimer: IANAL and before someone starts a company based on this, they should definitely consult one.
The pilot must maintain visual line of sight with the drone at all times, sufficient to determine heading of the drone by eye, unassisted by binoculars.
It must not fly over people or vehicles with people in them.
State privacy laws may provide restrictions above FAA airspace guidelines.
Drone operators could get in trouble for taking off or landing on private property.
Source: I'm a commercial license holder and have done some personal research into what's ok for the purposes of drone mapping.
Edit: That appears to be in Class B airspace, starting at 680 feet above mean sea level. Ground level there appears to be 250 feet above sea level, so flying a drone means you could go 430 feet above ground level before you do something the FAA gets real angry about.
As a drone operator, you can fly 400 feet above the ground OR 400 feet above any structure you are surveying. So it's something this pilot may want to be very, very careful about.
Right, so what do you feel as right as the pilot doing it (vs the laws)?
I can’t get an answer like this. Usually, it’s pivoted to discussing the laws like this vs the accountability of the pilot for the changes in privacy of those they observe (vs someone flying around their own land).
How do you think re: I should/should not do a project like this?
To put a finer point on it, Google Earth and the related ingestion and use is controlled and guided by laws vs a drone pilot and their personal decisions beyond a license requirement. So not apples to apples. Again, candid not critical, I know pilots get a lot of nastiness about this stuff.
> what do you feel as right as the pilot doing it (vs the laws)?
Personally, I think it's fine, and don't have a problem with people flying over my backyard & collecting images just like I don't have a problem with satellites adding images of my yard to Google Earth. I think it's pretty cool that I can zoom in and see my car in my driveway as seen by a satellite flying around the Earth at 17,000 mph.
I'd certainly be interested in any legal differences if there are any!
My opinion is that if the outcome is the same (a view from above is made publicly available) the how isn't a "large difference" from a moral perspective (which is what you were asking about).
Whether this is or is not "right" in the age of ubiquitous drone availability is up to us (via our government) to decide/change.
Disclaimer: IANAL and before someone starts a company based on this, they should definitely consult one.