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Drone Outside Window Spooks Seattle Woman But Cops Say No Law Broken

A Seattle woman was surprised to find a drone outside her window, but police say there was nothing illegal about it.
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A Seattle woman was surprised to find a drone hovering outside her apartment window early Sunday morning, but police say despite seeming creepy, there was nothing illegal about it.

The drone, specifically a remotely operated "hexacopter," was a good distance from Lisa Pleiss' building and could have been photographing a nearby construction site. Nevertheless, Pleiss, who lives on the 26th floor, was disconcerted, and alerted her building's concierge and the police. The craft's operators, laden with camera gear, departed before officers arrived — though police might not have had much to say to them. "There really aren't any specific laws to the UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] other than not being dangerous," Seattle police spokesman Drew Fowler explained Tuesday. "This is a new issue and I'm sure our lawmakers will provide guidance soon." Seattleites may be more on alert than others after another peeping-drone incident last year.

Update: The owner of the drone is a Portland, OR.-based company called Skyris Imaging, which was doing photography related to a planned apartment building at that site. You can see the picture it took at local Portland news channel KGW.

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