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A user who lives in a condominium reportedly seen a drone slowly hovering by his balcony one night, whoever was operating the drone seemingly intends to spy on the home from the balcony. 

Is this a form of privacy infringement? Is there any legislation protecting private properties in terms of this? What action can be taken by residents if this happens?

Thanks!

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Unlike other jurisdictions where the fundamental right to privacy is specifically laid out and provided for in its constitution, the Malaysian Federal Constitution does not specifically stipulate that a person has a right to privacy.

To date, there is no statutory enacted law that guarantees a Malaysian citizen of his privacy not to be invaded, save for the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 which deals specifically with personal data rather than “privacy” itself.

You may consider initiating legal action on the basis of “invasion of privacy” even though there is no specific legislation about privacy rights. In this regard, there are contradictory views by the Malaysian courts as to whether this is permissible.

S509 of the Penal Code does make it a criminal offence to “intrude upon the privacy” of a person; however this strictly relates to actions which insult the modesty of a person. Upon conviction, an offender may be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 5 years or with a fine, or both.

On a side note, try to take photo of the drone if possible and make a police report and/or report it to the condominium security management regarding this matter. The condominium management plays a practical role to assist you to find out the identity of the culprit and assist to prevent such matters from happening again in the future.

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@admin_ps .......good topic, hope more will participate on this

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@MyLEGALResponse thumbs up for the detailed explanation, thanks!