Moderator

Woman snapped sunbaking by real estate drone

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In one hot off the press...

A BOARD showing a G-string-clad woman has been removed after she became the accidental attraction in a real estate advertising campaign for a house sale in Victoria, Australia.

An ambitious agent enlisted a drone to take an aerial photograph of the property, which includes a sweeping image of the beach.

“I heard a noise and then I saw this odd thing flying around and thought it was a kid’s toy. It hovered around and luckily I was face down at the time,” Ms Lingard said.

But Steve Walsh of Eview real estate defended the use of drones for aerial photography and says he did not realise Ms Lingard had ended up on the sale board.

“It’s something that Google does and people use that everyday,” Mr Walsh said.

More here: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/mt-martha-woman-snapped-sunbaking-in-gstring-by-real-estate-drone/story-fni0fit3-1227124892062?nk=30874ac57b053490f43c37594fa7ef17

Mod notes: Privacy concerns aside, this touches on the use of drones by uncertified operators and flouting the regulations that genuine operators must abide by.  In all the reporting on the incident, none of the media has focused on this.  Also, this follows on from a recent television program that flouted the rules and let one of the presenters fly in an area where it shouldn't have happened.  CASA are investigating this as well, with one could only imagine, some serious repercussions for the operator.

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Comments

  • ohh now I get it. She isn't very attractive

  • ...more naked Pixel-People for your pleasure...

    Top 10 Naked People on Google Earth
    http://googlesightseeing.com/2006/11/top-10-naked-people-on-google-...

  • Yeah, I saw this on local TV news, and every channel had to zoom in to the 'embarrassing' part, all grainy and hard to make out. And you can picture this woman going to every channel with the photo, saying 'Oh gawd, it's SO embarrassing...' while they all plaster it onto TV screens. She's obviously angling for a payout.

  • I agree Rob ! Why is it that people have this overwhelming belief that all ins sunder are fixated on what they get up to in there own back yard and would be spying on them. The only people who g-a-s are your neighbours on either side cause they have to put up with you. Media,Media,Media .Its funny cause I would be more concerned about the fact you were sunbaking why in gods name would risk getting skin cancer lying in your own back yard, at least

    do it somewhere where the view is worth it. And stop calling them drones!

    As pointed out this story reaks of self importance on the part of the media and the person involved

  • It is not unusual for a woman to work on her tan in her own backyard. This might be because there is no beach nearby, or simply due to the added privacy afforded in one's own backyard.
    Up until relatively recently a fenced backyard offered a certain amount of protection, where one was afforded a reasonable expectation of privacy. This has now changed though, something that people must how adjust too... and that has got to upset some people (and they are certainly entitled to be upset). Thus we need to be very careful.
    The bloke who shot this image should have fixed the image before he submitted/printed/published it. All it takes is a little bit of care and about 15 seconds in Photoshop (or even MS Paint, if that is all that is on hand). There are new laws coming To Australia to deal with this sort of thing, but they are not targeted at drones.
  • At what point is what we see not able to be used in personal possibly commercial work.. seems a bit weird... and most likely a sensational article, it is definitely entertaining, great post!

  • This reminds me of the days when camera phones became prevalent. Everybody was gripped by paranoia! Here in Brunei where I reside, the authorities have started restricting the personal importation of fpv equipment, multicopters and to some extent rc aeromodel equipment. Not good :(
  • I know I can't be the only who thinks this isn't the fault of the woman.
    She is entitled to her privacy just like any of us.

    Anyone who knows photoshop or basic retouching can tell you that 
    cloning her out from the finished product would have taken no effort or
    time. This sounds like poor quality work with little oversight by and a careless
    post-production. 

    I'm looking forward to entering the commercial sUAV market and this article
    is an example of why it's up to individual pilots and UAV enthusiast to self-regulate
    and define their own code of behavior when it comes to flying and providing a service.
    No government regulation can ever do that it's up to each of us.

    As usual, the media spins it to feed  the drama and gain eyeballs and clicks. 
    Along with that comes the same pattern of blaming the victim, which is 
    evident in a few of the comments in this thread.

    We're all the ambassadors of this hobby/craft.
    Google's spiders are watching, and so is the public.

  • I'll bet the real estate agent was quite happy with all the extra publicity they got for free.  I wonder whether they provoked her into creating the stink?

    Want to buy a house in Mt Martha, David?  The neighbors are great! :) 

  • Moderator

    She did pose for the sign...  Quite possibly at direction of the media crew.  If we're going to open that door, the media are great at hyping up stories.  The woman was actually quite humble in the news stories (and in the TV segment).  She was clearly being directed by the media (she was on A Current Affair - quality right there).  Yes, she didn't have to accept the journalist requests and it could have been dealt with quietly.  However, it wasn't, and now the public perception decreases just that little bit more.

    I was at a UAV conference last week where we were talking about doing things correctly and enhancing the public perception of how cool this stuff can be...  Interesting to see that this then happens.  Like with the Block incident, I would be interested to see what CASA come out with.

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