If you don't tell houseguests about your indoor security camera, can you still record?
State laws vary when it comes to wiretapping and eavesdropping laws
My mother guesstimated her arrival time at my home to be noon. And I was bored out of my mind in the waiting room, watching other groups of people be called into courtrooms for jury duty. Occasionally, when I was tired of reading and snacking on junk food and salad in the vending machines, I’d open my phone and watch my dog stroll around the living room. She’d poke her head in the windows, flop on the couch, bark if a dog went by and then quietly sleep in her nearby crate.
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Noon came and went. Although I’d served on a jury two other times, it didn’t seem like that would be the case this time. I also realized my mother wasn’t there. After about 15 minutes, I got ready to text her to see if everything was OK. And then I saw the familiar shape of the woman who made me. I grinned and watched her reaching down to pet the head of my ecstatic dog as she sat on my couch. My eyes widened when I heard her singing, “Juneeee giiiiirl.”
I’d forgotten that I turned the volume up on my indoor security cameras. I always turned the volume off when I was home but turned it back on before I left to make sure my dog didn’t make too much noise. This time, I was entertained listening and watching my mother play with my dog. I left the volume up — until her phone rang.
She started talking to my father, and I immediately scrambled into the app settings to turn off the volume. Whatever those two were talking about was none of my business. When I was a kid, I would often fall asleep with my glasses on and my journal open. And as far as I could tell, my mother never read one page. Both of us are serious about two things: keeping secrets (when need be) and respecting people’s privacy.
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Even if all my parents were talking about was buying a dozen eggs, I still felt like I didn’t need to hear that. And while I scrambled through my settings and eventually figured out how to turn the app volume off, I thought of a dog owner who did the exact opposite when I was a dog sitter in her home.
The nightmare dog sitting job that made me hate indoor security cameras
Not only did this pet owner leave a sign on her indoor camera to make sure I didn’t change the angle, but she announced that she would be watching me while I watched her dog. That was creepy enough to make me stay out of the living room. I wasn’t doing anything interesting, but I didn’t want anybody watching me stroll around in pajamas and a head wrap while I tapped away on my laptop. And I definitely made sure to stay away from the camera while changing clothes; voyeurism was not going to happen.
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I never made any phone calls while I was in her home. Texting was the only option until I got outside because I wasn’t sure if she was listening to me too. Everything about that dog sitting job felt uncomfortable, and I regretted agreeing to it (and not just because she demanded I bring my own towels and blankets and rolled her own comforter onto the floor for her dog).
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I pondered on the indoor camera situation during another dog sitting job, when I didn’t realize there was a dome camera on the counter until I happened to look at an oddly shaped object near the fridge. The all-black camera had a 360° fisheye lens inside and instantly made me wonder if there were more cameras around. I considered asking the owners just that, especially after I’d used the basement bathroom and jogged into a nearby room (naked) because I forgot part of my outfit. While I didn’t see a camera in the basement, I’d gone at least two days without noticing the dome camera either.
But is it legal to run indoor cameras in your home without telling houseguests? Should they know that conversations can be retrieved? And does this violate state privacy rights, even if it’s to keep a home safe while homeowners are trying to sell the property or landlords are vetting prospective tenants?