Are My Neighbors Spying on Me?

Someone recently slashed tires on 65 cars in a neighborhood in Portland Oregon. A surveillance camera on a house captured a video of him; very distinctive features on this criminal and a month later he still has not been caught.

Enjoyed your article! However, not relevant to us city dwellers, I’m thinking. Urban housing, Surrounded by condo/apt towers made of glass makes theorizing many are enjoying telescopes and mobile phone apps of same. They’re are neighboring building’s totaling 10 of 1000’s of neighbors, most with floor to ceiling, wall to wall window advantages. In account of the broad interior spectrum looking downwards into lower buildings. Open blunds and curtains can make me feel vulnerable. Think Jim Carrey, in the movie: ‘The Trueman show’. Finally, call me paranoid.... but there’s new Lazer light technology widely and cheaply available that easily bounces sound, and video profiles, from one spying neighbor to a neighbor of they’re choice. Just point the laser light off of any shiny object off inside targets interior, and voila! Ricochet effect, works in the dark! Thank you D-SF SoHo

Just wait until self driving cars happen. They are bristling with high resolution cameras and other sensors. Of course somebody will eventually have the bright idea of keeping these on a network and recording everything around every car.

The main difference between Orwell's Big Brother and our myriad Small Brothers is that, from the very beginning, this surveillance world has been initiated by ourselves, our paranoia and our sheepesque desire to follow the trends. Why on Earth do we need a camera in our kids' room ? let them play and sleep like yourself and billions of other kids have been doing for centuries. Why on Earth do we need a camera in the basement where you have put up your mother-in-law (see "Somebody’s Watching: Hackers Breach Ring Home Security Cameras", NYT Dec. 15), where some hacker yells obscenities at her (thus certainly shortening her staying at your house, which may be a relief, but it is another story). Most of these gadgets instill a false feeling of safety but open the door to many sinister opportunities ; and wait until your connected fridge orders 10 gallons of sulfuric acid, just for fun.

And all these cloud services (Amazon, Facebook, Google, etc.) and storing the video from these cameras for who knows what purpose (note: it aint for your benefit)? Images on the Internet live forever.

This IS a surveillance state, contrary to the opinion of a person who profits from it.

Too bad so many people don't have opportunities to actually get to know their neighbors gradually and risk free. Jane Jacobs, who did an incredible, insightful analysis of the importance of the physical layouts of cities and suburbs ("The Death and Life of Great American Cities) understood the importance of truly good urban / suburban planning. (And it's NOT, surprisingly, just about adding more green spaces--green is good, but it's more nuanced than that.) In the 'burbs, you get into your car to drive to work/the store/the school, past your neighbor's house and generally avoid interaction. There are often few places in small towns where you can casually meet with people to get acquainted before you decide if you want to actually become friends. We used to have more community, perhaps; then we got "Neighborhood Watch" programs; now we have techie solutions. And more loneliness and suspicion.

Next door has terrible privacy protections. You think Facebook is bad? Well yes it is and NextDoor is too.

My son justifiably retaliated against a bully in Middle School, but faced a reprimand from the Vice Principal. S/he told me that cameras caught the act, but, when I asked to see the footage, I was told that it was not possible under their policy. I had no idea that there were cameras in the halls. I did not punish my son except for my dire warning that has served as an unfortunate check on his behavior, spontaneous or calculated, since that time: "You are being watched!" So are we all. Problem is, I'm not sure I want our actions to be scrutinized. Everywhere? All the time? Seems that's where it's headed.

Not only have the tech giants unnecessarily inserted themselves into nearly all our transactions, but now they're moving into the space of our observations and perceptions. I used to think the Amish were unreasonable but now I'm starting to get it.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could access this information from your home computer as well? Is that too much to ask? Not everyone owns or wants an iFawn.

I recently pulled the plug on Nextdoor after realizing that if you don't fit into the "Group Think" and political leanings of your neighbors, however slight, you will be vilified for it. Other turnoffs included posts about "suspicious people" standing on street corners, unfamiliar people making eye contact with others and the extreme outrage when a car gets broken into. However, the most concerning item is the self appointed cops in the neighborhood that use photos and public shaming to vilify somebody that "MAY" have irritated somebody. There was an episode where a person pictured by a SJW (Social Justice Warrior) surfaced on Nextdoor and pointed out that he was NOT the offender pictured that committed some atrocity to somebody's stoop with their dog. I laughed when that happened but I find that behavior insulting and downright dangerous. Especially in a large city that is rapidly becoming a suburban hellscape.

Recently joined NextDoor. Outside of one or two “security” posts, most of the items posted are usually done by people with too much time on their hands. We don’t need to know about the owl in your yard, etc.

My neighbors talked me onto Next-door but only briefly. I thought it would be limited to the immediate few streets. What do I know as I refuse to have Facebook or a Ring ? It was nonsense from all over our medium size city. Banality upon banality. More pointless observations in one place than I'd have ever predicted. And they were endless. I thought : " Facebook is probably a lot like this." and asked to be removed after about 6 hours.

A week ago I stepped into a yard to pick up after my dog and found myself looking at a small grey camera that had been attached to a tree and was watching the street. I thought it was pointed at where the school bus stops, but a couple of days later it had been moved around the corner. Made me wonder if it's time to plant hedges around our house.

Recently we had been to Ann Arbor, MI to visit our daughter, son - in - law and granddaughter especially to see our granddaughter attending her K.G class for the first time. Our son - in - law has installed a security camera outside his house for checking on the intruders. We could never sneak out without their knowledge on account of this camera. We used to go for some minor shopping like purchasing vegetables, fruits and provisions almost every time when we went out for walking. It always used to frustrate our daughter since we purchased something or the other for the house. Ironically she does the same thing whenever she visits Hyderabad. Our only intention was to contribute something as part of the family. Our daughter didn’t want us to spend unnecessary expenditure. As such arguments, sometimes heated, always took place. On occasions she used to return some goods, which she thought were purchased at higher price. This went on till we departed America in the third week of September.

I always feel like...somebody's watching me....

We have met Big Brother and he is us.

This is a social ( or anti-social) neighborhood upgrade, the nosy old lady 2.0, the busybody next door peering outside and minding others’ minor business and foibles. Then a bunch of worrywart, snowflakes glom on like lemmings. People just retreat to their devices and play virtue hero online.

Eh. I have security cameras. Mostly they pick up visiting raccoons and squirrels and wind-blown foliage. Occasionally they catch someone urinating in the side yard -- footage I erase immediately because it's so foul. If the cameras could shoot cold water onto the urinators, now, that would be something.

Nextdoor.com company is pushing their app in my neighborhood through what was originally a group that communicated through meetings and newsletters (some people have a lot of time to get involved, others like me not so much). Nextdoor is being touted in mailings by the neighborhood organization as FREE and PRIVATE: "enter this code to create a FREE account!" code is linked to mailing address no doubt. In reality It is neither free nor private- people have still not realized even after the Facebook 2016 election interference that their data is in fact worth a lot and they are freely giving it to the company, who will do as they please with it. If you refuse to be assimilated by Nextdoor Corp., you become an outsider. Very much like businesses now who only interact through FB, if you don't have an account you are shut out. There should be a law against this deceptive advertising and privatization of the public good. Count me out! We need some boffins to create open source, public versions of these apps and get the marketers and Big Data out of our lives!

Video doorbells and security cameras can be great, both in investigating crimes and in making life easier for folks who have trouble getting to the door to answer it. However, like many aspects of the technosphere, laws have not kept up with technology. Owners should not be able to point cameras at other people's windows or doors, and only the police should have the right to share videos of strangers.

No. This is not a police state and no one has a right to take my image without my consent. Period.

Criminals are wise to cameras. They know if they wear a hoodie over a baseball cap, their faces are unlikely to be seen. A camera recording will give a time of a crime, but not necessarily be helpful in catching the culprit.

Well, the fact that telling the truth seems to have gone the way of buggy whips, cameras are an important part of getting to the truth when something does happen. If you aren't breaking the law, you have no fear from a camera watching you.

There are relatively few means to protect yourself from peeping Toms or plain nosy neighbors. The simplest are good curtains. Beyond that come water jets, strong blinding lights, and even more radical means of self-defense that may not be legal everywhere. A good deterrent against future intrusions by peeping Toms is to catch one in flagrante delicto and empty on his head a can of oil paint.

There has been a recent rash of vehicle break-ins and care thefts in the area. The "Neighborhood" app is getting lots of attention and Ring users are inviting others to make sure they share suspicious videos. Then, the local Facebook pages are teeming with activity and sharing and ... Information can be helpful and scary at the same time and must be judiciously reviewed before panic sets in.