That response from THS is appalling! That puts all the responsibility on the sitters’ shoulders. IMO that response amounts to neglect. What if a sitter was accompanied buy his / her young children and these cameras were monitoring them too?
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A good way of bringing the subject up to be sure. We are quite happy with outside cameras, but having felt violated by an undisclosed indoor camera in the bedroom at one place, are very uncomfortable with indoor cameras.
So we ask. Our 5 star and many years of house and pet sitting reviews speak volumes for us.
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I always ask and disclose Honestly, My Teen Son quite often wanders around in his Undies and has been known to sometimes forget he has not got Undies on and wanders into the Kitchen, the HO usually laughs at this point and we talk about it more also if they have the camera’s because they have been broken into or there’s been an increase in their local area etc, I ask for the details because if the system goes off or malfunctions we need to disable it and reset etc or at least call them or the security firm. Some freestanding ones, we turn against the shelf etc and when we are leaving the house for a Dog walk etc we turn any back around.
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I dislike cameras on properties that I house sit felt uncomfortable with ring doorbell on my house sit.did wonder if there was any more inside house.thought it was illegal to film someone without their consent or a notice saying that was in place. If they don’t trust me then they shouldn’t have asked me to house sit.
@Manda my almost teen son sounds very much like yours!
gasp
That’s illegal in any reasonable jurisdiction. What did you do?
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Just getting in to this discussion. I want indoor (and even yard) cameras disclosed and turned off at my request - or I’ll cover them. Front door maybe okay.
My last sit disclosed the front door cam and told me there were no others. I only opened the front door to bring in a package anyhow.
My husband shut it down and just to be sure, put a towel over it. We had to sleep there that night, but let them know we were leaving in the morning. No pets and they had family close by.
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Hi there, I have to admit that I would feel concerned and be unhappy if asked to turn off our outdoor cameras, which only cover our yard and gates…… I can see no reason why they would be a problem, they are not facing our house and it’s not as though we are going to spend our holiday sitting watching them, but they have proved useful when a neighbour told us that some people were looking at/taking photos of our property…
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I don’t think I’d feel very comfortable with cameras in a home. Another site that I used has introduced a feature where owners state in the basic description whether or not there are security cameras, in the home or outside. Since this does seems to be a more common occurrence now, perhaps it would be a good idea to introduce it on THS for owners to declare the presence of cameras.
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Hi @gardengirl as you are not aware, owners are indeed obliged to include information regarding any cameras or recording devices in their listing so that sitters are aware and can discuss before they confirm a sit …
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Hi Angela, I wasn’t aware, because I haven’t seen any evidence of it in listings and may be that’s because none of the sits I’ve looked at have security cameras. I wouldn’t know. What I was suggesting was that it should appear in the section which shows “sitters need a car” “family friendly”, etc. so that it would be immediately obvious.
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Very good suggestion @gardengirl and as this is a subject of concern and interest to members we are discussing internally to look at the process for creating total transparency on listings so that everyone is aware.
Thank you
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Unfortunately I have found an undisclosed spy cam on my housesit too. I have nothing to hide, but I do feel it is a massive violation of my privacy. It’s also illegal in most places in Europe to tape people without permission. I have no desire to discuss cameras with houseowners up front. What’s the point, are people going to be truthful about it? Besides the agreement about disclosing cameras should already be there when they signed up with THS right? I have covered up the camera and I will leave it like that until the HO’s return, hopefully this will not result in an argument or bad review.
I really feel that the rules about disclosing cameras should be made more clear to HO’s by THS, because apparently it’s not clear enough at the moment.
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Hi @Stefanie this equipment is readily available and becoming more commonly used. The subject is being discussed internally as total transparency by owners who have this equipment, before a sit is confirmed is required so that sitters are aware and have the choice of accepting or declining a sit.
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How did you find the spy cam, Stefanie? Some of them are insanely small…
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This one wasn’t really hidden or small. It did also show up in the Fing app (free version). When I first saw it I naively assumed it must be off, but I heard it being active when I walked by. In fing I could also see the model so I could look up the functions of it (also records audio by the looks of it)
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Thank you.
I, too, have nothing to hide but oh, the violation of privacy! Urgh…
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It’s good to know that the free version of the Fing app can pick these things up. Most sitters have nothing to hide but this is still a huge invasion of privacy. Good to know that THS are discussing this internally.
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Hi @Stefanie
Could this version pick up conversation?
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