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Comment by sandworm101 | Hacker News Reader

So would this ideal legal framework extend to the suburbs? Do I get to roam through people's backyards? Am I allowed to hop over fences so long as I stay X meters away from buildings? How big does a property have to be before I can pitch my tent in the middle of someone's lawn? No matter what the number, 10m, 25m, 100m, I can probably find a nice neighborhood on google maps full of lawns big enough to become my next campsite.

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I haven't really thought it through but off the top of my head 250m from a house just passing by seems reasonable, and maybe something like 750-1000m for biouvacking? No one (who wants the right to roam in the wilderness) desires to roam around the suburbs, and having some reasonable limits like 250m/1000m would prevent people from doing that. It would prevent people from entering tracts of land that are even a few acres in size. When I think "the right to roam" I am thinking about places with vast tracts of wilderness. Think some "ranches" in the American West, though could be tens of thousands of acres of land not really used for much besides grazing cattle. No one advocating for the right to roam wants to camp in your backyard.

The policy needs to be reasonable, unless you want home owners taking matters in their own hands (you don't).

Policy or not, seeing a steady stream of strangers "roam" through your property next to your (vulnerable) family members will generally do more harm than good. Also, how would you deal with unintended property damage?

> Am I allowed to hop over fences so long as I stay X meters away from buildings?

A reasonable policy would probably specify at least 50-100 meters from buildings, which would outlaw roaming in suburbia.

>> A reasonable policy would probably specify...

There is no reasonable policy, not in the US. No matter what number is picked, homeowners will install anything from doll houses to razor wire to prevent their back lot becoming the next homeless encampment.

As a child I routinely cut through neighbors' yards in a suburban area. It's not reasonable to deny this sort of passage to anyone. IMO it's reasonable that there be footpaths which allow general passage between buildings.

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