Cameras, Cameras, Cameras

thank you for your reply. I would appreciate it if you could take down my profile link. I know I am an old duffer and not great with tech, someone mentioned my url and my mind went WHAT!!! Sorry for not understanding.

Your help is appreciated.

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Hi @frenchlife

Consider it done - and no worries at all. I can see that this was your first time using the Forum in a while, and it’s easy to forget what we might have done on previous visits!

Thank you for checking directly with THS to make sure that Membership Services confirmed that you’ve followed all the rules. If they’re happy, we’re happy.

A quick note to everyone else participating in this discussion:

I am going to moderate the thread and some of the posts with as light a touch as possible. Nobody’s on the naughty step, it’s just because I can see that @frenchlife wasn’t quite prepared for the way this discussion went and posted thinking they had more anonymity.

I think it’s time to move on from @frenchlife 's specifics and bring things back on track with more general discussion around cameras being used on sits, please!

Thanks :slight_smile:

Jenny

thanks Jenny

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I think that’s an important distinction between something you have access to and could potentially turn on and something that is externally owned and managed. It’s turned on by the sitter and not accessible by you so I would expect it to be OK to THS. Detailing it in the listing is always best (I’ve not seen you listing).
I’ve had this exact system in place in a sit done multiple times through another site. Ironically it was put in place because after one sit the owners returned and I left and they were burgled that same evening.
As someone who, in a former life, has had to enter properties when alarms have been activated knowing what’s going on inside would have been helpful.

I am not one of those people who gets bent out of shape by the allowed external cameras which have become default in so many US houses. However, I saw I just saw a London listing, in which a sitter brought up a lack of transparency around internal cameras in a studio apartment kitchen. The Homeowner responded that yes indeedy there is a camera in the kitchen which depending on the sitter ??? may or may not be on and which she monitors through her phone, but no worries! No audio! And she “respects privacy.”

So why is this on a listing if it is blatently against the rules? Is this now optional? Have we now gotten to cameras are fine with transparency? Privacy means the homeowner will look away if I’m in my underwear?

UPDATED: The listing was reported. The listing seems to have been removed.

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@Marion did you report it?

Yup. Via email. And was asked to share listing in a moderator message.

Depending on the sitter’s good looks?

I saw a review where a sitter wrote about concerns for future sitters’ privacy.

“Brain” lubrication.

I just found a camera on (inside) while in my bra. I am beyond creeped out. I contacted THS, and they are asking me to contact the owners. I am concerned that the owners already knew the rules and that confronting them about the camera is NOT my responsibility. Thoughts?

@Sitter7 how did you find it?

Technically you can choose to leave the sit. Did THS give you that option too?

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THS has not given me that option. Really? My concern is that I will receive a bad review by confronting the owner about the situation, and I do not feel comfortable in the home: if there is one camera, there may be more.

@Sitter7 . It’s the owner who is in the wrong, not you. Ask them in a none confrontational way if there are any cameras in the house, as you thought you had seen one. You can then mention that it’s against the rules. Keep it friendly and see how they react. Leaving a sit is the last resort really.

@Sitter7 when we contacted THS because the homeowner was breaking the T&Cs of the sit agreement. Member services offered to contact the homeowner to remind them of the rules .

If this is what you want them to do - go back and ask them to do that .

It can be quicker to talk to the homeowner yourself - ask them to disable the camera so it’s not monitoring you. In the meantime cover it and be mindful that it could still be recording audio .

You can give the homeowners notice that because of the undisclosed internal camera you will be leaving the sit and that they need to make alternate arrangements for the care of the pets . Keep THS member services informed of what you are doing and why (by email so there is a record.) Their e-Mail is Support@trustedhousesitters.com

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If you want to resolve the camera problem, then maybe you should take responsibility. It is against THS rules, but dont wait for THS to take action. You can ask the HO in a non-confrontational way, e.g. by saying that you noticed a blinking red light (or whatever you saw) and wondered if it was a camera, motion detector for a burglar alarm, etc. If a camera, ypu can remind them that THS doesnt permit inside cameras and ask how to disable it - and any other cameras in the house.

If they confirm that it is a camera, please mention this in your review

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@Sitter7 @Silversitters addressed for you what I posted.

You dont have to leave the sit eithet as @Lassie posts.

There have been a number of similar posts. There have been different outcomes.

What seemed the best botton line is that the OP/you take in the feedback and decide what is best for you.
None of us really know the full story and it’s challenging to covey via the forum posts for you.

Stay if you will, go if you must but mentioning the camera in the review some way is for the greater good.

Keep us posted.

@Sitter7 While you are figuring out what to do, UNPLUG any device you are suspicious about. The homeowners are in the wrong, not you.

Unplug them, then tell the HO to disclose the location of all inside devices.

If there are indeed inside cameras that are on and were not disclosed before you accepted the sit, the homeowners are in the wrong and in my mind, you have the right to leave the sit.

In the meantime, contact THS again and insist they tell the HOs to cease and desist.

Once you are out of there, know that reviews are blind so definitely mention this in your review of them. PLEASE!

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Thank you. I may leave. I feel uncomfortable and am concerned there may be another camera in the home.

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That’s really disturbing. Besides THS rules the U.S. has “reasonable expectation of privacy” laws. This applies to guests in a private residence. I’d think that THS would want to take immediate action if a HO was not just violating an agreement but possibly breaking the law.

Well done. They were likely thinking they could subvert the policy by getting people to agree.