Are security cams legal?

[Gotcha]

I tried posting this before but (hmmm) it never showed up. I neglected to ask if there are any laws I need to know about regarding outdoor security cameras.

[TomMac]

---

I neglected to ask if there are any laws I need to know about regarding outdoor security cameras.

---

If your watching your property, with most laws I know of , its ok....  If you have it on a pole looking in your neighbors window, maybe not so much !  🙂

As to public places, like aiming towards the street/sidewalk, there's really no expectation of privacy

Also , there's no audio, so the problem of eavesdropping laws is eliminated

[R_Lowe]

Good question and great succinct answer (kudos)!

Tom's phrase "expectation of privacy" is key.  One of my cams is at the back of my house showning my fence-side of a seldom accessed area near my back windows.  I was just careful not to show any of my neighbor's back yard where they would expect to enjoy their lives privately without intruding cameras or prying.  It's not so much skirting the law as it is being a good neighbor and showing reasonable care and respect (which in theory is the basis of all laws).

This shouldn't be confused with taking photos of people specifically, without their permission.  Security cameras are more or less fixed and arbitrary, and unless one oversteps simple and prudent guideliness, a good deal of leeway is given for public area surveillance (such as a spill-over off your property and onto a public street or frontage areas); at least I've never heard of any problems.