Do you act differently when you know you're under the watchful lens of a security camera? How would you feel if you visited friends with a surveillance system in their living room? Today, that's possible in more homes as cameras that are relatively inexpensive and easy to install are letting homeowners view live streams on their smartphones from almost anywhere. It's one thing to monitor for security, but how does it change things when you're peeking in on friends and family? Channel 4's jennifer waugh investigates. 3 0 - 8 9 - 14 103 - 109 131 - 136 239 - 243 KEN HALL INSTALLED A SMALL SECURITY CAMERA IN HIS HOME WHEN HIS DAUGHTER, GRACIE, WAS BORN. "It's nice to have that sense of comfort, the sense of security to know that at any time during the day I can peek in and see what's going on, making sure that everything's good."ALL HE HAS TO DO IS OPEN THE APP ON HIS SMARTPHONE AND HE CAN SEE AND HEAR HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS. HE SAYS IT TOOK A LITTLE TIME FOR HIS WIFE TO ADJUST TO ALWAYS BEING ON CAMERA WHEN SHE'S AT HOME."In the beginning it was a little strange, but think she's become used to it."PRIVACY ATTORNY SARAH DOWNEY SAYS THE EXPLOSION OF THESE SURVEILLANCE DEVICES ON THE MARKET IS A CONCERN. "Surveillance is everywhere. It's on the streets, it's on our computers, so the home is really the last safe zone and with many of these home surveillance devices, even that sanctity is in trouble."SHE BELIEVES SECURITY CAMERAS CAN SERVE A USEFUL PURPOSE, BUT WILL FORCE US TO FACE SOME INTERESTING ETIQUETTE ISSUES."You can use it for children. You can use it as a baby monitor.You can keep an eye on pets. But, you can also know in extreme detail what your guests are doing, your adult guests, and that's something that they probably wouldn't expect. So that's a really huge change for society and for our culture and it's going to have a major, major impact."RUSSELL URE HEADS UP BLACKSUMAC, THE MAKER OF SOME OF THESE CAMERAS. HE SEES THESE SMALLER MONITORING SYSTEMS AS MORE THAN SECURITY.HE SAYS THEY'RE PORTHOLES OF SORTS INTO OUR HOMES."Sort of a new notion of being a family public space inside your home. So this is not, this is not a space that is public to everybody, but it's public to a close member of your family."AND HE BELIEVES THE SYSTEMS ALLOW PARENTS TO ACTUALLY BE CLOSER TO THEIR CHILDREN IN SOME WAYS."Our lifestyles have forced us so far apart. It's allowing us to, to start to reconnect to our kids."THAT'S HOW KEN FEELS, TOO."It was nice to be able to be connected to my daughter and to my wife while I was at work. So, I can peek in on them and and see, oh they're playing."BUT WHAT IF YOU END UP PEEKING IN ON YOUR GUESTS?"If you're going to use these tools, you have to be courteous about them. And, it's a whole new world of, of etiquette with technology that we haven't really had to deal with yet."KEN MAKES PEOPLE AWARE OF HIS CAMERAS BY POSTING A SECURITY SIGN AT HIS DOOR. HE ALSO NOTIFIES ALL BABYSITTERS."We usually try to tell people, but sometimes, if they're just friends and they're coming over and, you know, it's like no big deal. We don't, you know, we don't say anything. I mean it's not a policy. We don't hand them a card and say, 'You know, you're under surveillance.'" EXPERTS SAY THAT MORE AND MORE PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE INVESTING IN THESE KINDS OF SECURITY DEVICES .AND RUSSELL URE SUGGESTS - BE SURE TO TELL YOUR GUESTS YOU HAVE CAMERAS LIKE THIS ONE IN YOUR HOME.. JENNIFER WAUGH CHANNEL 4, THE

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May 15, 2014 at 8:16 am by Mr HomeBuilder
Category: Home Security