Neighbor’s Security Camera Records You. OK To Be Naughty? [Survey]

ACROSS AMERICA — What do you do if your neighbor installs a security camera that faces your back yard and captures every single thing that happens on video?

“My privacy and family’s privacy is gone,” someone recently vented on a neighborhood social media site in the middle of America. “Obviously, they want to see something. That being said, could I walk around nude in my back yard and do adult things, even though they’re recording me in my back yard? Could I get naked in my yard just to give them something to see since that’s what they want without getting in trouble?”

This may be an exaggerated case in which more is going on than bad blood over a security camera. But if it’s as simple as one neighbor’s desire to protect their family and property inadvertently trampling on the privacy rights of another, what’s the solution?

Is there some middle ground, or is it acceptable to do something inappropriate to make a point, especially if the cameras were installed less for security purposes and more for nosiness?

If talking politely with the neighbor about adjusting the angle doesn’t work, you could fight back with a camera jammer, a handheld device that temporarily disrupts surveillance cameras. Or you could install a fence or natural barrier to block the view. What else can the offended party do?

We’re asking for Block Talk, Patch’s exclusive neighborhood etiquette column.

Editor’s note: This survey closed on May 24.

About Block Talk

Block Talk is an exclusive Patch series on neighborhood etiquette — and readers provide the answers. If you have a topic you'd like for us to consider, email [email protected] with “Block Talk” as the subject line.

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