bl00d-ga:
Thank you for your Question regarding the security camera that your
neighbor has taken upon himself to install to watch your apartment
building's parking lot.
In this 'Big Brother' society that we find ourselves in these days, I
too share your concern when an individual presumes to monitor a public
space without even so much as warning the users of the public space
that they are doing so, and without providing any information about
what they are doing with the images that they may or may not be
recording.
I will record here for posterity the information I provided in the
clarification request above:
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It is not illegal to observe, by either direct or indirect means, a
public space where an individual cannot have a reasonable expectation
of privacy. The parking lot of an apartment complex definitely falls
into this category; even if it is private property, the precedent is
set by Indiana Code Title 9, section IC 9-25-2-4, which defines a
private parking lot as a public highway for that section of the code
dealing with financial responsibility for motor vehicle insurance.
About the only thing that your spying neighbor may be guilty of is
perhaps going against the terms of his lease, if he is renting his
apartment and the terms of his lease specify that he is not allowed to
make any permanent changes (such as mounting the camera) without the
prior permission of the landlord. If he owns the apartment, then that
won't be the case.
As well, if the camera is mounted outside of his apartment on the
exterior wall of the building, which would therefore be a common
element of the building, then the building's strata council would be
within its rights to order him to remove the camera from the common
element; however, he could then simply remount the camera inside his
window, and you'd be back in this current situation.
About the only thing you can do, short of committing a crime such as
vandalizing the camera (and naturally neither I nor anyone else here
at Google Answers will ever suggest you do that!!! See disclaimer,
bottom of page...), is to legally interfere with the camera's ability
to 'see'. As long as you are not using an illegal transmitter or a
restricted device, you can follow along the path of Michael Naimark
at:
How to ZAP a Camera: Using Lasers to Temporarily Neutralize Camera Sensors
http://www.naimark.net/projects/zap/howto.html
Laser pointers are cheap these days, I think I've seen them in dollar
stores. As long as you are not using it as a weapon to harm someone,
it is perfectly legal to possess and use one. The effect on the camera
will be similar to sunlight reflecting off a car mirror on a bright,
sunny day.
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Good luck with this, to you and your other concerned neighbors! The
issue isn't the camera, after all. Many management companies install
their own cameras to help monitor and protect their residents'
vehicles. The issue is the lack of accountability by the spying
neighbor, to the uesrs of the parking lot.
Regards,
aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher |
