Is it legal to have a surveillance camera facing bedroom window?
June 30, 2009 by Surveillance Tips and Advice
Filed under More Surveillance Answers
Can you answer Anna D’s question about Surveillance?:
My neighbor just installed 8 surveillance cameras on his house. There are two facing my house (we have about 15 feet of land between our house). One of them is directly in from of my bedroom window, which could record that side of my house and the my whole front yard. The other is at the back facing the back side of my house and my whole back yard. Can he really do this?
They are the little dark globe type so you can’t tell where they are looking or even if the zoom.
Hidden Security Camera
My neighbor just installed 8 surveillance cameras on his house. There are two facing my house (we have about 15 feet of land between our house). One of them is directly in from of my bedroom window, which could record that side of my house and the my whole front yard. The other is at the back facing the back side of my house and my whole back yard. Can he really do this?
They are the little dark globe type so you can’t tell where they are looking or even if the zoom.
Hidden Security Camera
Surveillance Feedback: It is legal, put up some black out blinds no problem.!!
Surveillance Feedback: Not necessarily but if it is viewing a bedroom or any other rome of your house, report it to the cops,and they will ’see what they can do about it.’
try telling him/her first
Surveillance Feedback: Yes he can and this is a great opportunity for you to creatively defeat the cameras.
Have fun with it.
If his intention is to “peeping tom” your bedroom window, give him an eyeful of something he isn’t expecting.
Surveillance Feedback: YOU MIGHT ASK THEM T POINT ITAWAY FROM YOUR WINDOW
Surveillance Feedback: I take it he has a wife. Say to her, “I think it highly distasteful of him to station one camera in front of and facing my bedroom window. He won’t mind if I stick a really big sign in front of my window, will he? It will be spelled ‘P-e-r-v-e-r-t!’ ”
And do it if you don’t get an immediate action. Just big red emphasised textra lettering on a sheet of brown paper taped over the window on the outside will get them if nothing else does.
Surveillance Feedback: The best thing you can do is talk to your neighbor about it. Let them know that it bothers you. If you have problems with this neighbor, if you don’t have a good relationship/friendship with them, or think that they won’t respond well to your objections, put it in writing and leave it in their mailbox. Before you take it to the police or anything, you need to let them know that it bothers you. If the neighbor does not honor your request to point the cameras somewhere other than your property, then I would definitely report it. Nobody should be able to make you feel uncomfortable in your own home.
Surveillance Feedback: question is? are you getting free protection or perv detection, suggest you go talk to your nieghbour and figure if their motives appear sound.
Surveillance Feedback: In many places, yes, it is legal though you can pursue civil litigation if you feel your privacy is being invaded. Laws also vary from state to state and, obviously, country to country, with some being more strict than others. Surprisingly, most states in the US have stricter laws on audio surveillance than they do video surveillance (owing to the fact that the latter hasn’t been around as long).
In places that have fairly lax video surveillance laws, the general consideration is intent. Is your neighbor honestly just trying to secure his property? If so, he’s probably within his rights. He can’t help that your property is in the line of site. If he’s going out of his way to monitor your window specifically that might be another matter entirely. As others have suggested, express your concerns. Your neighbor might be perfectly willing to invite you in and show you that his cameras aren’t specifically monitoring your bedroom window, but just appear that way from outside.
The good news is that a camera that appears to be pointed at you, might actually not be. Being angled in your general direction doesn’t mean that the lens is actually focused on you.
Visit for more on wireless surveillance camera laws. Sorry, folks, no naughty stuff on the site. It just covers technical, ethical and legal issues surrounding wireless cameras.