Watching is legal. Documenting is protected.

ADS-B is an unencrypted public broadcast required by FAA regulation. Recording, analyzing, and publishing aircraft activity is constitutionally protected speech. Here is the framework that makes our findings hold up.

First Amendment

Publishing observations of public airspace activity is protected speech and protected press activity. We are journalists with sensors.

FAA 14 CFR § 91.119

Minimum safe altitudes over congested areas, residential, and uncongested zones. We document deviations against the published baseline.

42 U.S.C. § 1983

Civil rights remedy where state actors — including agencies operating or contracting aircraft — violate constitutional rights under color of law.

FOIA / State Public Records

Aircraft owned or operated by public agencies are subject to disclosure. We provide templates and tracking.

FRE 901 / 902 — Authentication

Our SHA-256 + Merkle chain satisfies authentication of digital records. Hashes are reproducible and tamper-evident.

Daubert / Frye Standards

Statistical anomaly detection with published baselines, peer-reviewable code, and known error rates clears the standard for expert evidence.

Constitutional Framework

The Bill of Rights applies to the sky over your house.

We are not flight-tracking hobbyists. We document the systematic erosion of the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure — by aerial proxy.

Fourth Amendment — The Right to Be Secure

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated...

Your backyard is not public airspace. Your bedroom window is not a surveillance target. Patterned low-altitude overflights that enable visual, thermal, or electronic intrusion are not 'plain view' — they are unreasonable search by aerial proxy. See Kyllo v. United States (2001) and Carpenter v. United States (2018).

First Amendment — Document and Publish

Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press...

Recording public ADS-B broadcasts, analyzing public FAA records, and publishing findings is protected speech and press activity. The government cannot retaliate against citizens for documenting government conduct.

Fifth Amendment — Due Process

No person shall... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law...

If surveillance is used to construct investigations, create pretextual stops, or build dossiers without warrant or judicial oversight, due process is violated at the collection stage. We document the collection.

Sixth Amendment — Confrontation

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right... to be confronted with the witnesses against him...

If aircraft-collected evidence reaches a courtroom, the defense has the right to examine chain of custody, calibration records, operator identity, and mission authorization. Our SHA-256 + Merkle chain provides that forensic foundation.

Fourteenth Amendment — Equal Protection

No State shall... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

If surveillance resources are disproportionately deployed against specific neighborhoods, ethnic communities, or political dissidents, equal protection is violated. Population-scale documentation reveals those disparities.

When rights are violated — remedies

Violation pattern	Constitutional basis	Remedy
Repeated low-altitude overflights capturing private activity	4th Amendment	Bivens action / § 1983 claim
Retaliation for documenting aircraft activity	1st Amendment	§ 1983 + injunctive relief
Warrantless aerial-surveillance evidence used in proceedings	4th + 6th Amendment	Suppression motion + civil claim
Surveillance targeting protected class or political viewpoint	14th Amendment	Equal protection litigation + DOJ complaint
Pattern of surveillance without judicial oversight	4th + 5th Amendment	Declaratory judgment + injunctive relief

Not legal advice. Patterns above are documented in our Findings and Violations logs and exportable with full SHA-256 chain of custody. Bring the receipts to your attorney.

If you are affected

We do not provide legal advice. We provide evidence — clean, hashed, and exportable — to the attorney of your choice. We can refer you to civil rights practices that take qualifying cases on contingency.

Request a referral →