Ring Video Doorbell privacy

Artyboy1973

My neighbour has recently got a Ring Video Doorbell installed on her door and I am now concerned with my privacy. Her video doorbell activates and records video footage with movement and her video doorbell camera activates and records footage every time I enter my flat or leave my flat. I find this an invasion of privacy and I don’t like it. Her video doorbell camera looks straight at my door of my flat.

I did a bit of research and according to UK and Scottish law if a video doorbell camera looks straight at a neighbour’s door it’s called as invasion of privacy.

I can understand my neighbour getting a video doorbell camera installed as we had letters from tje local police that there was attempted break ins and drug addicts have been stealing parcels at neighbours doors that couriers have left but I really don’t like being filmed every time I enter or leave my flat.

I have been thinking of contacting my landlord who are the local council about this matter and mentioned it to my support worker as I suffer anxiety and depression.

Please advise.

Ayr_Rage

If you aren't doing anything out of the ordinary just think of it as an extra layer for your own personal security.

Vitor

Home CCTV systems | ICO

Artyboy1973

Thanks for the link.

[quote] Where possible owners should position their cameras to only capture their own property. However, if this isn’t possible and the CCTV captures someone else's property, a public area or communal space, then data protection law applies. This is because CCTV can capture images and voices of other people, and this counts as their personal information.[\quote]

Yes, as I thought so the data protection law applies as my neighbour’s door bell camera is pointed straight at my door entrance and can record me going in and out.

marcia_

 I doubt they are spying on the camera all day looking at your movements. Just think about it as free security for you. 

RumRat

You were probably recorded a hundred times before you got to your flat.  
I don't think there is much you can do in the situation. The neighbour can clearly demonstrate that it's in a communal area for crime prevention. If you live in that environment you could look on it as a plus.
My past experience tells me that everyone in a block of flats knows when neighbours come and go anyway.

elsien

There is the ICO guidance. 

And then there is the practicalities of actually enforcing anything.
Have you spoken to your neighbour about whether she could angle the camera in a different way?
Or if you acknowledge her safety concerns, what other  suggestions do you have that you could discuss with her?

the ICO page also says this:

Your neighbour has become increasingly concerned about the security of their home due to reports of burglaries in the area. As a deterrent, they decide to install CCTV on their door. Their CCTV covers a communal area and not just their property.

Your neighbour explains to you why they believe they have a legitimate reason to install the CCTV, and there’s no way of only recording their own door without also recording a section of the communal hallway. They also explain that they believe that the intrusion to your privacy will be low as the CCTV does not continuously record.

In this instance it’s likely that your neighbour has a legitimate reason for using CCTV, however they do still need to follow the data protection rules.

So just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean that your neighbour has to remove it. And if they are not putting the footage out there on social media for example, then they’re not misusing the data and you have no grounds to challenge anything.

Also from that ICO link:

What will the ICO do if I make a complaint?

You can complain to us if you think a CCTV owner isn’t following the rules. We can send a letter asking them to resolve things (eg put up an appropriate sign or respond to your requests). 

After this point, there’s a limited amount of action we can take to make the person comply. It’s highly unlikely we will consider it fair or balanced to take enforcement action against a home CCTV owner.

You really need to talk to your neighbour. 

DullGreyGuy

In parts of London the police have been giving away free video doorbells in an attempt to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour. 

We are in a different situation as our front door goes to the street not a communal area but it does capture a tiny bit of both neighbours' front gardens, the street and technically the flats opposite (though at that distance the resolution isnt great). We've been asked multiple times by various neighbours for footage because their car was stolen or vandalised or the delivery guy left a card with no door number and they hope to see if he turned right or left to narrow down the options etc. 

As others have said, we are under CCTV for a large proportion of our time so think of it no differently to the CCTV in a shop or on the high street, or indeed the buildings own CCTV. It cannot materially see inside your dwelling, people dont sit there 24/7 watching the CCTV from their video doorbell and just remember to wait until you are inside your flat before getting naked or such 

B0bbyEwing

Each to their own. 

Personally so long as they're not setting up cameras to purposely peer in to my bedroom & they're only recording literally the front of the house due to where things are located then while it may be against laws I wouldn't give a beep. Isn't going to hurt me any and I doubt they'd be selling on footage of me leaving my house to make money from or whatever else. 

I'd also see it as if something happened then I may be able to call on them & say XYZ happened, did your camera pick it up? 

Some people get offended over the strangest things these days. 

Undervalued

elsien said:

There is the ICO guidance. 

And then there is the practicalities of actually enforcing anything.
Have you spoken to your neighbour about whether she could angle the camera in a different way?
Or if you acknowledge her safety concerns, what other  suggestions do you have that you could discuss with her?

the ICO page also says this:

Your neighbour has become increasingly concerned about the security of their home due to reports of burglaries in the area. As a deterrent, they decide to install CCTV on their door. Their CCTV covers a communal area and not just their property.

Your neighbour explains to you why they believe they have a legitimate reason to install the CCTV, and there’s no way of only recording their own door without also recording a section of the communal hallway. They also explain that they believe that the intrusion to your privacy will be low as the CCTV does not continuously record.

In this instance it’s likely that your neighbour has a legitimate reason for using CCTV, however they do still need to follow the data protection rules.

So just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean that your neighbour has to remove it. And if they are not putting the footage out there on social media for example, then they’re not misusing the data and you have no grounds to challenge anything.

Also from that ICO link:

What will the ICO do if I make a complaint?

You can complain to us if you think a CCTV owner isn’t following the rules. We can send a letter asking them to resolve things (eg put up an appropriate sign or respond to your requests). 

After this point, there’s a limited amount of action we can take to make the person comply. It’s highly unlikely we will consider it fair or balanced to take enforcement action against a home CCTV owner.

You really need to talk to your neighbour. 

Exactly ^^^^

The last line of the ICO quote is refreshingly honest, even though it won't be what the OP wants to hear.

It is good to know your rights but in many ways what you really need to know is the real world chances of being able to enforce them.

All too often this forum gets bogged down in "barrack room lawyer" theoretical statements that are completely divorced from reality!

matelodave

In the whole great scheme of things do you really feel that you are sufficiently interesting or special that a neighbour really cares about what you do or when you do it,? Unless of course you are creating nuisances of some sort which warrants it.

As has been said above, people are caught on video hundreds of times of the day and no one cares unless you are up to no good. 

At some point in the future you may well find that a camera in the hallway might have prevented something untoward happening just by being there.