Privacy Law Library

Remotely Piloted Aircraft (drone intrusion and surveillance)

Iowa Drone Surveillance Law

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Iowa's drone law makes it a crime to hover a drone over someone else's rural home or near livestock, equipment, or buildings on a working farm, and a more serious crime to do so with a camera or recording device capable of identifying people or farm property. Owners can get court injunctions against harassing drone operators, and unlawful recordings must be destroyed. It does not reach property inside city limits.

Where
Iowa
Citation
Iowa Code ch. 715E (715E.1 to 715E.6; enacted as 715D.1 to 715D.6 by 2024 Acts ch. 1131)
Status
In force
In force since
2024-07-01
Last amended
2025-07-01
Enforced by
County attorneys (criminal prosecution); homestead and farmstead owners or lessees (injunctions)
People can sue
Limited
Penalties
Intrusion is a simple misdemeanor (serious misdemeanor for repeat offenders); surveillance with a camera or recording device is a serious misdemeanor (aggravated misdemeanor for repeat offenders) (715E.3(2), 715E.4(2)). Owners may obtain up to two-year injunctions with costs, attorney fees, and investigation expenses, and courts must order destruction of unlawful recordings (715E.5).
Applies to
  • Any person flying a drone, with or without a surveillance device, over another person's rural homestead (principal residence plus up to 400 feet of land outside city limits) or within 400 feet of farm animals, equipment, or structures on another's farmstead (715E.1, 715E.3, 715E.4)
  • Exempt: flights with the owner's consent, FAA-compliant commercial or agricultural flights, government, public utilities, railroads, flights above 400 feet, weather data collection, and others listed (715E.6)

Rights it gives people

  • Owners or lessees may petition for a temporary injunction of up to two years against a respondent harassing them with a surveillance drone, with costs and attorney fees.Iowa Code 715E.5(1)-(2)

Practices it requires

  • Do not knowingly fly a drone that remains over another person's homestead, or within the 400-foot secured area around farm animals, equipment, or structures on another's farmstead, unless an exception applies.Iowa Code 715E.3(1)
  • Do not knowingly fly a drone equipped with a surveillance device (a camera or equipment that records or transmits identifying images, sounds, or data) over those areas.Iowa Code 715E.4(1); 715E.1(13)
  • Anyone holding images, sound, or data recorded in violation of the chapter must destroy them, including copies, when ordered, subject to limited ownership claims by identifiable persons or property owners.Iowa Code 715E.5(3)

Sources

Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.

Research reference, not legal advice.