Oh dear, I better start asking about indoor cameras. My husband has his morning coffee and a read of the news before he puts his clothes on. He sleeps naked. Someone may be sorry to have inside cameras with us two wrinkles and our early morning routine.
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I guess we would get along perfectly if we met in real life 
It’s often the written thing that sounds offensive because you don’t see the facial expression of the writer.
So no offence meant.
I am also completely with you that turned on indoor cameras must be in the listing and turned off when the sitter is in the house.
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never, never, never cameras inside the house…that’s not what I said…I don’t even want cameras on me while in my own house!
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@Angela_L When the product team reviews this issue, please ask them to read the three posts by dlwalsh2 in the thread, “Is it wrong to ask owners if they have cameras in their home?”.
S/he references two different instances of HOs denying that they had hidden cameras, both during the interview and walk-through.
Quote: I use an app called Fing to find all devices connected to a wifi (including hidden cameras). We have sat for a couple different homeowners who had hidden cameras (they had said they didn’t have them during the interview and on our initial walk-through).
As you previously mentioned, including a checkbox in the listing requirements/Welcome Guide would raise the profile of this issue so that sitters can decide in advance if they want to apply for a sit with internal security cameras.
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@anon39388349 yes thank you and I am not offended. Yes if we met over coffee I am sure we would get along and things do get lost or misunderstood in writing. I wish you no offence either. I do have strong views about certain things and I think it should be OK in the forum to raise issues that concern us as sitters and HOs in a way that is respectful and hopefully helps improve the service. Have a nice day and stay safe with the covid situation; I think its far from over.
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@long1016 yes sorry I never meant that you were for camera’s inside the house…I was just agreeing with your comment and expanding on it…my apologies if I did not make that clear.
Thank you for highlighting
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As an owner, we have outdoors and indoors cameras for security reasons - they usually are on all the time to protect our home from intruders.
If we do get a break-in, the indoor cameras in the house will provide much better video of the intruder.
We give the sitter a code to disable select cameras if they feel uncomfortable or to enable them when they are out of the house. They can also view the video footage if they wish.
A sitter is like a household member. We trust them.
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I agree with this 100% and also believe the issue should be brought more into the forefront. As a sitter, I find the idea of secret cameras (that I wasn’t advised of, or which were hidden) to be absolutely horrifying.
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I try to ask about cameras in the interview process before committing to the sit. I don’t have issues with outside security, since I have them on my home as well.
Indoor cameras are more of a concern in regards to my personal privacy. Who wants a homeowner watching me ( in my PJs or less! ) I did take one sit where there a was an indoor camera, which purpose was to make sure their mid-day dog walker showed up on time and record how long the dog was out. They told me about it and allowed me to turn it towards the wall when I was home. That was understandable.
If the indoor camera was installed in the ceiling… I probably wouldn’t take the job. How can you be sure they turned it off?
I’ve followed this thread with a lot of interest. I’ve recently done a sit in a house which was almost overrun with state of the art gadgets. I loved some of them, the independent vacuum cleaner for example. I so want one of those!
But also, the HO (probably like hundreds of HOs in the UK), had a ‘Ring’ doorbell installed. This could be and was controlled remotely by the HO. As well as being able to see who was delivering a parcel, the HO could see, on his phone, when I opened the door for whatever reason, to take their dog for a walk for example, and how long that took. They could see me driving my own car out of the driveway if I went to the supermarket. I did rather feel as though I was being watched … well, in fact, I didn’t know IF I was being watched: the HO is able to watch on his phone every time he is alerted by the ‘Ring’ system but the sitter doesn’t know this.
Anyone else had experience of ‘Ring’?
@LTD @Angela_L its the first i have heard of this sort of technology and I dont like it one bit! I have just finished reading another thread where a sitter describes trades people letting themselves into the house while they were there to do work, and another where a boyfriend of the HO let themselves in with a key, and now what you describe…it does not say much for how some HOs regard the sitter and their reasonable rights to privacy.
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I run on the assumption that I am always on camera and behave accordingly.
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The technology is widely available, relatively inexpensive and easily installed. Having the technology in the home is not an issue as long as owners are transparent about its existence and that its use and adaptation is discussed fully with a sitter prior to agreeing the sit.
Many pet families have pet cams for pet monitoring while they are away from the home, these are cameras which monitor anyone, pet or human in the space, again useful personal choice technology which needs to be disclosed.
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@Angela_L thanks for clarifying that and i must have been living in the stone age regarding this sort of thing! While I fully appreciate that while the HO is actually not away on holiday but at home and out shopping, on business etc that this sort of thing helps them keep track of animals at home ; and I am all for that especially with dog theft the way it is, I think I am more interested in what THS response is where a HO knowing that disclosure at the time of locking in a sitter and also disclosure within the WG and original listing and fails to do so is? I know you have said that it is dealt with case by case but can you point to any case in general terms where a HOs membership has actually been cancelled rather than suspended? I am sure you will agree that this issue is one of paramount importance for many sitters who would like some sort of reassurance that they can enter somebodies home in good faith without the right to reasonable privacy being breached. To my mind suspension of an account indicates that at some point that person will be allowed to put up new listings and what safe guard is there for a sitter within that arrangement? I also feel that to much onus is being placed on the sitter to first of all ask the right questions to find if cameras are installed and then to negotiate the use of them and possibly even to carry an app which helps them find undeclared cameras! Surely this is not the right way to go with this sort of issue? Personally I think outside cameras are fine and they can track things such as break-in, dog theft and give added security for a sitter. I think use of cameras within the house should not be on and it makes a very clear distinction between the use of cameras that nobody can be confused about. I would be interested in what other sitters and HOs think about this.
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I have seen friends with this “ring doorbell” and they can definitely see every activity at the door.
After reading the thread a while ago, we downloaded the Fing app then used it at our next sitting. It just bleaped at every electrical devise so that wasn’t much help.
How will we know if a HO has hidden cameras that are not divulged ? I agree that if a sitter found out then the HO should have their membership cancelled as it breaches every code.
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@Itchyfeet @Angela_L yes thanks for that
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The home we are sitting in at the moment has a Ring doorbell. I have no problem with this but my understanding is that it is only activated when someone rings the bell - am I mistaken?
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Hi Colin, @carpediem See my post on this topic above. I believe that no, RING is not ONLY activated when someone rings the doorbell. On my sit last week, it was activated every time I opened the door.
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