Do Home Security Cameras Violate Privacy?

With advanced technology becoming cheaper all of the time, many are considering installing home security cameras. Similar cameras already exist all over the country at intersections, in offices, at train stations and in schools. The logic goes that a criminal who knows he’s being watched might be dissuaded from committing his intended act. And if he goes through with it anyhow, the cameras increase the chance that he’ll get caught. The police will have hard evidence with which to convict him, and, what’s more, there presently exists technology that can match pictures of faces to databases of criminals.

But some are actually concerned about the legality of these cameras even in public spaces. They argue that this sets up a virtual police state, an eternal Panopticon in which everyone is being watched at all times, like in George Orwell’s 1984. (A Panopticon was a kind of prison designed by Jeremy Bentham, an 18th century British philosopher, in which a tower with armed guards stood in the middle of the prison court. The theory behind this setup was that the prisoner felt like he was being watched at all times, even if no one was in the tower, and therefore would begin to mould his own behavior to that which was expected of him).

Those with scruples about the proliferation of security cameras are largely being ignored, however, and such devices are being installed at a rapid pace. Now, many homeowners are wondering if it might be worthwhile to install home security cameras. They’re already protected at work and on the subway – why not extend that sense of safeness to the very places they live. They already have a home alarm, why not take the extra step?

Indeed, home security cameras can definitely aid in a criminal prosecution in the unfortunate event of a break-in. The cameras can catch the criminals face in the act, and provided hard evidence that he was in the house. Such solid proof will likely decrease the chance that the burglar will get away based on a technicality, or on a lack of non-circumstantial evidence.

Home cameras can also protect against pettier crimes. Say you swear you had $500 in cash in your dresser, but when you went to get it suddenly you only had $460. Maybe you really did only have $460 in the first place, or maybe your sneaky teenager or a dishonest housekeeper or electrician thought you wouldn’t notice if $40 was gone. With a camera, you can stop doubting yourself and know for sure.

But what about monitoring, for example, a babysitter? You’ve probably seen Meet the Parents, in which Robert DeNiro, a former CIA operative, installs a camera in a teddybear in the room that his future son-in-law, Ben Stiller, is sleeping on a visit home. You probably laughed at the clips of Ben Stiller embarrassing himself when he thought nobody was watching. But these so-called “nanny cams” are no laughing matter – many worried parents are actually installing them.

The question that needs to be answered here is what right to privacy can a 16-year-old babysitter expect when she’s in a neighbors home, watching the kids on date night? Legally, probably not much. But morally – well, that’s a more complicated issue.

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