Why are people still installing security cameras that are monitored by them? They increase stress level and felt insecurity. They do not make you feel secure, say psychological studies. You probably think more about burglaries and dead spaces in your setup and actively monitor for these in your daily lives, where for 99.8 % of people this should be a non-topic.
If you want to install them for later police work, that still seems tedious and you might require off-site backup. In public places we often have CCTV of people, but unless you have number signs on vehicles, they seem to not help with conviction rates by much.
One good reason for cameras. They promote civil behaviour.
Since I installed a visible security camera above my front door I never had couriers throwing packages, they very rarely not show up and claim "no one was home" and so on. Also I had a neighbour damage my fence every single time he was doing his farm work (plowing, harvesting). In addition he would use an unfenced portion of my property as a turning place leaving deep/huge tire marks and did other silly shit like that despite me asking him many times not to do it. Once I installed cameras it hasn't happened once.
Then there are other practical reasons, I can review the recordings to find out which way my cat went if he is gone for a long time, or I can check is he waiting in front of the door in the middle of the night without having to get out of bed. Also my cameras resolved a mystery how one of my cats got injured once (hint - deer really don't like cats).
Finally, let's say there is a huge storm forecast and I'm away. I can check remotely everything is fine.
Finally, cameras are very good for insurance purposes. At least in my country insurers are known to weasel they way out of paying very often. If you have an actual recording that is much more difficult for them to do.
The only issue I have with most reasonably priced Cctv cameras is that they go towards more megapixels when they should go towards more IR sensitivity. Almost every consumer grade camera can be defeated at night if a subject is moving quickly. The picture will be smeared. So for ID purposes I use lower resolution more "professional " cameras.
As for open source, I've been using ZoneMinder with local (and on camera) AI for ages.
Dunno much about the market for consumer grade home mount IR/Thermal cameras, I used to use upcycled industrial cameras when I worked contracts in the vision domain, recently I'm using a rifle scope on a remote controlled mount with a long HDMI cable.
> They increase stress level and felt insecurity. They do not make you feel secure, say psychological studies. You probably think more about burglaries and dead spaces in your setup and actively monitor for these in your daily lives, where for 99.8 % of people this should be a non-topic.
Oh wow, I didn’t know I felt that way! I’m glad you were able to tell me what I feel.
You are making a lot of assumptions about why people have them.
People have different dispositions, live in different environments with different levels of support from law enforcement and face different threats. I live in a remote area and am regularly away for extended periods of time. I’ve spent years with and without any security cameras and I’m generally more content when I have a few keeping an eye on the place.
This! And also, cameras are not just useful to monitor criminal threats. If you’re away from a property for long periods of time, they are also helpful to monitor for weather damage, misdelivered packages, animal activity, etc.
I'm not really sure what you're getting at. I don't have cameras as a crutch for an anxiety disorder, I use them to solve property management problems. If there is something that needs to be addressed, I do so. This may or may not require my involvement depending on the issue. If a camera breaks (which isn't common), I order whatever parts that may be required if any, and fix it when convenient.
A broken camera gives you exactly the same information as a camera that doesn't exist: zero information. If this gives someone enough anxiety that they would need to drop everything, they probably need therapy.
I was wondering about the events you're monitoring home for while you're on holiday. Were you saying something more like cameras mean you don't have to do your usual rounds on foot?
Regardless, when I said "blank feed" I meant a scenareo where you're away and you don't know why the feed is blank. It's not the same as a non-existent camera: it's telling you there's a mysterious problem. Can you ignore the chance that it's an extremely urgent problem?
The cameras that people have on their homes are not necessarily places that they are at on a regular basis. Some homes are vacant, some are secondary homes, some are vacation homes, some are rentals, etc.
I've had a couple failures over the past ~decade and it has never been "mysterious". If you don't panic and use context clues, there is always plenty of information. Pretty much any foreseeable urgent problem resulting in a failure would have produced some footage that indicates the issue. And non-urgent problems that result in failure are easy to detect. (e.g. if your UPS sends you an on-battery alert, and 5 minutes later your cameras fail, you just had a power outage)
The only time that cameras go black without warning and it is warranted to panic is when you're the comic relief character in a bad horror movie.
I don't see courtesy or an answer in your comment. I see a refusal to answer, in a condescending tone. I explained myself in good faith and you chose to educate me about the existence of property portfolios, following up with how, actually, my question is stupid.
You refused to accept even the premise of any thing I've said. I believe I have matched your respect, but hopefully with more zing.
When the doorbell rings I get a notification on my desktop and phone with a relevant image captured a few moments before the button was pressed.
Then I can determine if it's something I need to put my pants on for.
Mostly it's just fun and easy to add cameras around your house. Then you can do stuff like have the LLM count birds it sees or ask it "are the dogs in the back yard" etc.
The one pointed at the driveway sends an alert to my phone when someone visits. It's handy because I can't hear the house from my office so I often don't realize when we have guests over.
The one in my back yard is for security. I don't obsess over it, but if something went missing from my workshop I'd check the recordings. I'm not worried about traditional thieves, but I've got a couple unsavory family members.
> Why are people still installing security cameras that are monitored by them?
The point of Frigate et. al. is to not have to do the monitoring. The false positives of small wildlife, known persons/vehicles, etc. do not consume attention, so you forget about it until something of actual interest happens.
Like with all home automation, you should use it to solve problems you have, not problems you want to have.
Here are some ways I use security cameras:
Check if my colleagues are in the office or not (and if they are in the middle of a live recording). Check on my plants while I'm away. Check if there is a free parking space. Check if I left something at home or in the office.
I'm not really thinking about crime, even though they are called 'security cameras'.
I'm so happy those uses of camera's are illegal in the EU.
Camera's at work can only used for safety. You could have other - less intrusive - systems in place for all tge other issues.
You have to justify the use of storing (or publishing, don't remember) content that includes PII. You must register the use of cameras and specify how long and why you store those recordings. Which usually states: For security purposes. You must include (at least my country) a sticker that says particular area under surveillance.
When there is collective photographing at school for children, we as parents must consent with a signature... which is a little bit annoying.
Only if the camera is angled in such a way that it only sees your property. A door bell camera that can also see the public road in front your house for example is technically not allowed, even if most people ignore that rule.
I don’t get it, you have privacy at home or outside work, why when someone is paying you to work for them there is an expectation of privacy? You don’t see how that is extremely counterproductive for capitalism and economic activity?
Just don’t come to work right? You can have all the privacy you want? Or don’t visit the business if you are the customer.
Please help me understand what the logic and justification is to regulate and control security camera use within private enterprises (with the obvious exception of toilets and changing rooms etc)?
My employee can intrude on my privacy when he had probable cause but only then. Otherwise it is illegal to collect personal data. I need mutual trust to be productieve and evaluation of my work should always be upfront and transparant.
Otherwise I'm puzzled by your claim of productivity. Especially since we are stalking about labour productivity.
Notice that the top tier of the list is populated by countries with strict privacy laws.
> “There is a fundamental shift in how nations approach economic output. Strong social policies and strategic investment in worker well-being are creating more productive economies than traditional long-hour work cultures. The financial sector remains a key driver of high productivity, but it’s the emphasis on work-life balance that distinguishes the leading economies."
I work from home half of the time.
I have clear targets. Some I set for my team, some are set for me. If I reach or surpass my targets, why should I be spied on constantly?
This is about security cameras at work sites and businesses. What does this have to do with WFH?
However while we are on the topic I don’t see why governments should impose any restrictions on businesses using monitoring systems on their WFH technology systems as long as it is disclosed to the employees they may be monitored.
When you are paid by an employer your job is to do exactly what they want and try to do it well. Your relationship is voluntary (at will) between both parties and if you don’t like it then don’t work for them.
You were mentioning productivity as a reason for motoring your every move at work. Productivity is not a valid reason.
The reason the can't use video footage is because your image is biometric data.
There are other ways of monitoring at the workplace without being so privacy invasive.
My team is set free. We don't have work hours. Technically we have to work 3 hours a day, between 10:00 and 12:00 and between 13:00 and 14:00.
Without any monitoring they've reached their yearly target in may of this year.
So productivity is a falsehood. Nobody works harder when they're watched. People work hard when they are valued.
Fair performance reviews now and then do the job.
Then back on safety. I used to work in a bar years ago. It was in a busy part of the city and out of 30+ bars on the square I was the last to close.
I had 3 cameras and they were installed for my safety. Imagery was erased every morning and only used when needed after a bar fight or theft. That's fair use.
Never use biometric data lightly.
On a sidenote. I just don't get why people want to live in a surveillance state so much. You can't build a society without trust.
You can integrate it with home assistant to send notification on your phone (or run any other automation) when it detects any specified objects.
I have set it to send me notification if any person is detected in my front yard, drive way or back yard after I have "armed" my alarm at night. I am thinking of also sounding am alarm on my home speakers.
Frigate, when configured properly, has a really low false positive rate. I have only seen 2-3 false positives in the past one year. And if rarely ever misses. So it's something you can rely on.
We had a couple of minor break-ins in our neighborhood, and subsequently installed 3 very visible cameras along the neighborhood road (which is a dead end). No break-ins since.
My neighbor used his to catch a guy that let his dog poop all over the sidewalk. Like a trail of 10 poops over 6 meters. When caught days later he denied it, but the neighbor whipped out his phone and showed him the video. He apologized.
Most satisfying ise of CCTV ever. NGL it made me want to install them.
>Why are people still installing security cameras that are monitored by them?
Very few people rarely ever actively monitor their home security cameras these days. I only look at the recorded footage if and only when a predefined event is triggered. Usually if a person is detected within a specific area when I'm not at home and they shouldn't be there. Such as door leading into the house from the backyard. Or if a package is delivered and I don't see the package on my doorstep.
In my previous apartment, the landlady had zero sense of decency and would let herself in to snoop around.
I use these devices because I can factually know that nobody has entered my home while I was gone. It is peace of mind. I don't think about burglaries or whatever. I think about how my landlord or a property manager or rotating cast of anonymous maintenance people have a key and the only reason they don't abuse it is because of decency.
I get notifications when packages are delivered which limits the window for porch pirates.
I have a daily news feed of animal activity so I can see what the little neighborhood cats, raccoons, and skunks were up to last night. I was originally using it to alert me when the neighborhood stray was on the back porch so I could come down and feed her (without risking other critters finding the food)
I am installing a doorbell one this week. I got a package delivered monday according to the tracker but its not here. It would be nice to have had the camera already so I could see if someone took the package or if its still potentially not yet delivered. Neighbors have gotten packages stolen plenty so it is a real risk.
I live at 7400 ft in Colorado and only lock my doors so the bears don't come in. I have cameras on each side of the house so I know when not to let my dogs out.
I would love to ditch things like locking car, home, hiding stuff, etc, but unfortunately there are individuals (a way less than 0.2% of people) that makes us to…
>> Why are people still installing security cameras that are monitored by them? They increase stress level and felt insecurity.
I am fascinated by this whole thread because I have multiple cameras trying to capture hummingbirds, coyotes, and foxes in my backyard. We try to ring an alert when they come so we can quickly run to the window and be inspired by their grace and beauty.
Currently i'm doing this via a very flimsy RPI+webcam setup but i'd like something much better. I also have FLIR cams because im interested to do this with night vision also.
I'll take this a step further. I don't understand why so many people are installing security cameras at all. And my observation has been that there's often an inverse correlation between how much someone needs such a camera and how likely they are to have one. It's always the suburbanites who are talking about their Ring cam footage and freaking out that someone's at the door, oh wait, it's just FedEx.
Despite what most people seem to think, crimes like break ins in the US are extremely rare. Why do people still feel the need to gear up their homes like Fort Knox?
It's not for deterring break-ins. It's just for informational purposes like seeing when my package is dropped off. FedEx might be pretty good at sending me emails about deliveries but plenty of other smaller last-mile couriers don't have any way of notifying me. It's also for entertaining purposes like seeing a feral cat stretch in my front yard.
Why are people still installing security cameras that are monitored by them? They increase stress level and felt insecurity. They do not make you feel secure, say psychological studies. You probably think more about burglaries and dead spaces in your setup and actively monitor for these in your daily lives, where for 99.8 % of people this should be a non-topic.
If you want to install them for later police work, that still seems tedious and you might require off-site backup. In public places we often have CCTV of people, but unless you have number signs on vehicles, they seem to not help with conviction rates by much.