A local Hamilton man has been ordered by the city to take down his security cameras that he has on the outside of his house, despite his claim that his footage has been useful in crime investigations.
Dan Myles says he has 10 security cameras outside his home on MacNab Street North in downtown Hamilton, and he says he needs them.
Absolute bullshit, even on the privacy front.
There is no expectation of privacy in public spaces, and the fact that the “executive director” of Global Privacy and Security gets this wrong is highly disappointing. That said, the “latest news & events” on the Global Privacy and Security site is dated back to 2019… so there’s that.
And much of the footage shown in the report are people trying to steal shit or break into vehicles around this guy’s property!
Also, if this guy is forced to remove those cameras, what about dashcams and cameras on businesses pointing to public areas? Cameras on banks or at police stations? Traffic cameras? Weather cameras? Will they all be ordered to remove them?
Of course not, because this is fucking stupid.
I have cameras, and they’ve been used to help police several times. FFS, you can even register your home cameras with police!
Someone complained, and the city needed to respond. He should just ignore the order, which would be impossible to enforce without affecting every homeowner, driver, and business with a camera.
I agree that there is no expectation of privacy in public. This can quickly stampede into people taking pictures or video, in a public park or something that is now illegal to take, simply because of shit like this.
If you’re in a publicly accessible space, or where I can see you from a publicity accessible space, there’s no reasonable expectation of privacy.
This really isn’t any different than him sitting there and watching from his window, it’s just recorded.
Fucking Hamilton man.
regarding the first point, to be fair, there is an expectation of privacy in your own home (and maybe on your own property), which cameras like this could violate
Not if you are in plain public view
Cameras cannot point into your windows. and no audio is legal without consent.
This guys cameras show the street but they aren’t pointed in Windows, if they want to enforce this they have to have every Ring doorbell can removed, because those typically point directly across the street. I totally agree on the audio part