Nanny-Cam May Leave a Home Exposed

NY Times through Yahoo ^ | 4-13-02 | John Schwartz

[B4Ranch]

Especially in Kalifornia, WOW what a lawsuit.

[B4Ranch]

Aw come on. Show them the video so they can put it on TV in prisons everywhere.

[Cultural Jihad]

...more evidence...

Just like mom's original nourishment.

[Marine Inspector]

Heck, I'll sell it to Real TV and Cops.

[ErnBatavia]

"I can only imagine driving around the Bay Area with one of these," said Aviel D. Rubin, a security researcher at AT&T Labs who was along for the ride.

now THAT could get downright ugly.....

[Brian Allen]

But what's the story here? If you buy a camera that transmits to a reciever, any reciever on the same frequency can pick it up within its range.

Dog bites man.

Sun rises again.

Monday follows Sunday.

Intellectual bankruptcy is a prerequisite for "'journalism' school."

[friendly]

Whoa momma! I am going to buy the $250 in monitoring equipment just to check out the babe on your screen.

[Brownie74]

BUMP.

[altair]

But what's the story here? If you buy a camera that transmits to a reciever, any reciever on the same frequency can pick it up within its range.

Not if the signal is encrypted. Oh wait, we're not allowed to use decent encryption so that the Feds can put wiretaps everywhere.

[Grampa Dave]

Just be sure to clean the lens on a daily basis. The ones up and down the Oregon coast were so salt soaked, that I quit going to them. The one at Brookings never changed, you couldn't tell if people were having coffee 75' or if you were looking at sea gull poop mixed with dry and wet salty sea water.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

"Just be sure to clean the lens on a daily basis."

The one for Coos Bay could be put inside the CG lookout tower behind the glass windows.
I'm not sure where the Bandon one is located but the images are always clear.

[spycameras]

I've been making nanny cams for 8 years, never a customer call me to complain about someone picking up their signal & vice versa. The signal is not strong enough to penetrate through outer wall of a house and the range is not so much determined by the antenna on the receiver rather on the transmitter.
Even if someone picks up the signal, they are got to be pretty stupid to beak in to a house full of security cameras.
If you still don't feel safe? just unplug the camera when you are not using.
Who ever wrote the article did not research too much, rather went on with his or her assumptions. Why make insecure poeple more insecure?

[Sunnyvale CA Eng.]

You make nanny cams? How do you compete with the cheap cams from China?

[spycameras]

There always a customer looking for good quality and will pay high price. Also all components such as camera & Tx are imported from china & Taiwan but assembled here since Chinese manufacturers do not have much idea what style camera housing such as a clock radio, fit to homes in USA.

We do not compete with the Chinese, we depend on them!

[HiTech RedNeck]

yo

[HiTech RedNeck]

The signal is not strong enough to penetrate through outer wall of a house

Maybe, if living in an aluminum dome. Ever hear of antenna boosters, by the way? Virtually no nannycam voyeurs are going to tip off the target.

[Caipirabob]

We've actually used the X10 cams as a starter security system. We are upgrading to a wired system shortly, simply because of better quality images. We used the cameras to track a delinquent. The payoff came within a month when my neighbors car windows got shot out with a BB gun, my wife reviewed the images and we had the two kids carrying around the gun. My neighbor confronted the family of the guilty parties. When the parents tried the "my kids wouldn't do that" they said "It's on tape..." The $800 repair took place that week. Shortly thereafter, ALL delinquent activity ceased in our neighborhood.

[Lurker]

I have a few of those cameras around my house.

However, I have them installed outside so I can keep an eye on my property. All anyone catching my signal is going to see is them watching themselves watching my cameras.

Come to think of it a bunch of folks on my block installed them after our a neighborhood watch meeting last summer. So all some voyeur would see is a long line of cameras watching him or her drive down our block.

L

[Lurker]

I actually had one of the little miscreants stop by my house one day when I was working in the yard. It seems another neighborhood watch member told this punk to behave because there are cameras up all over the neighborhood.

He actually asked me if that wasn't violating his rights somehow.

I just chuckled and said "Nope. You're on a public street. Nothing you do out here is private. You want private go into your house. That's private."

Then he asked if I knew who had the cameras up. I said "Why yes I do." Then I turned around and went back to work.

As he turned to leave I said to him: "You know those things work pretty well at night, too."

We haven't had a single car broken into in our neighborhood since then. Not one.

L

[B4Ranch]

Are the cams hardwired or wireless? How do you keep the lenses clean?