What laws regulate private, outdoor C.C. camera observation?

Factual Questions
1

I’m specifically looking for what protections are in place to prevent unauthorized viewing of your home and property. What is and isn’t allowed as a camera’s principal subject? Does what’s in the background affect the legality? Are some views of home exteriors, like of a bedroom or bathroom window, off limits? Is there a difference between viewing of an open, public yard and that of a fenced, private area?

If that’s not specific enough I can explain why I ask. About a year ago our brand new car was vandalized in the driveway, resulting in extensive damage that required a lengthy and expensive repair. I was pretty sure kids were responsible and decided to install a closed circuit video surveillance system thinking it would serve two purposes. One, by making it apparent, I hoped it would serve as a deterrent. Two, if a repeat occurred, it might help identify the perps.

During the install and set-up the contractor mentioned something about how the cameras can be used to monitor your own property but can’t be aimed at a neighbor’s house, predominantly observing their property, etc. Thing was, his knowledge of the rules/laws that deal with this seemed very vague. Nevertheless, I took a conservative approach and have everything pointed only at my property and the street so that if need be perhaps I can capture a face or license plate. Motion activated, it’s all written to a hard drive with a monitor.

We put signs out provided by the supplier that say cameras are in use and I went to each surrounding neighbor (except one) and told them of the set-up and assured them their house and yard were outside of our camera view. Our arrangement is purely defensive, there’s nothing even remotely voyeuristic. They all (except the one not contacted) were pleased as it might benefit them too if they ever experienced an incident and, in fact, that has been the case. It’s been used once to show some damage to a yard was accidental and another time to identify the vehicle driven by some vandals. All in all a positive decision and welcome addition to the neighborhood and our peace of mind.

So imagine my surprise and dismay to see last week that my next door neighbor had purchased an identical system but has his nearest camera trained in part on my back yard. It’s turned away from his house and while capturing part of his driveway also looks over the fence into my yard and on a wing of our house with windows. This is not a good person. He has a long history of anger and assuming a threatening posture against women, children, pets and even the elderly in our neighborhood. He and I already were not on speaking terms as one of those threats was made against my family. That he would threaten a child and then install a camera capable of observing where she plays, her safe haven, is obviously far beyond troubling, it’s unacceptable.

Presently the deciduous trees that line the cedar fence separating our property provide a degree of protection against the camera. However, he’s pruned his side, I assume to allow better viewing and, come fall, much of the obstruction will be gone.

The reason I ask here is because I’m just not finding much in the way of specifics about what can and can’t be done with outside cameras in residential areas. I’ve asked the owner of the company that did the install and he, although having attended a couple of talks on the issue, says he’s yet not aware of what’s regulating a relatively new industry. He and I have contacted the sheriff (not a patrolman but the actual sheriff) and he’s coming out in a day to assess the situation personally. It’s that meeting, with the sheriff, that I’d like to prepare for by knowing what protections the law affords us. We’re residents of Texas.

So any information you can provide about what is and isn’t legal in a situation like this would be very, very much appreciated. Thanks.

2

It sounds like you need a lawyer that specializes in privacy.

I did find this that might be helpful for further research —> http://www.justanswer.com/questions/17j5m-texas-state-law-legal-fair

3

I believe privacy laws like this are set at the state level. What state are you in?

4

Lieu mentions that he or she lives in Texas.

5

That is a good start, Duckster. Thanks.

Boyo Jim, we’re residents of Texas.

ETA: Thanks, twhitt, and “he.”

6

Just throwing this out there. What would happen to the camera if you were to point a laser pointer at the lens from your home?

7

First, just making him turn the camera back toward his own property is my desired outcome. I’d prefer a response with legal teeth as opposed to trying to deflect his every parry.

If that doesn’t work then I could consider some sort of blocking. Laser pointers, LED lights, they initially strike me as being as useful as their battery life, which would be limited. I’d rather not erect an entire wall of blocking devices if I don’t have to. Also, the cameras are infrared, going from color during the day to B&W at night. Not sure how well the blocking would work during daylight hours.

I would hope that somewhere within the guidelines of a reasonable expectation of privacy would be the mechanism that would eliminate the intrusion.

8

I doubt you have a reasonable expectation of privacy from being seen out in your yard. A microphone would be a different issue.

Ok, here is what I found, and it does not look good for you, though IANAL. Texas Penal Code here.

A search for 'privacy turns up this:

My non-lawyerly interpretation of this is that unless you can establish some kind of sexual intent on behalf of your neighbor, like pointing into a bathroom or bedroom you are out of luck.

A couple of caveats here. This doesn’t seem to be an official state government website (it has a .com name). 2nd, if you scroll up a bit from the first privacy hit, you’ll see section 21.06, which criminalizes homosexual activity. The document cover shows a 2007 date, and I’m pretty sure the Supremes threw out such laws nation-wide earlier than that. So perhaps Texas hasn’t revised their code, and portions of it have been superceded by court decisions. Anyway, this throws some doubt on how reliable the document’s information is.

9

As far as day-vs-night, most CCD systems can be easily overloaded by shining a light directly into them.

Since you have a similar system, testing different countermeasures should be a breeze.

Mount a laser pointer on a tripod and point it at one of your cameras from across the yard to see what effect it has.

If that is less effective that you want, you could check out an IR spotlight. A little pricey, but easier to aim.

ETA: Since he will know that you’re actively interfering, just set up a floodlight pointed at the camera.

10

A little more looking, and I find good news and bad news. The bad news is that the actual state website doesn’t look substantiall different than the dotcom link.

The good news is that these links appear to relate to felonies, not misdemeanors. So there may be additional stuff out there that I haven’t found, because AFAICT the misdemeanor information is not nearly so neatly organized.

11

Since pointing a laser or even a very bright light into a lens has a good chance of destroying an electronic camera, you may find yourself open to some criminal charges yourself. I would absolutely not do this without consulting with a lawyer.

12

Does the reasonable expectation of privacy apply equally to someone standing on a public sidewalk or the street attempting to look into your windows or backyard, and your neighbor who already has a view that others do not have the same access?

13

That is way too lawerly a question for me. My guess would be yes, and the specific law I found refers to taking photos or recording videos, not merely looking. It would seem to me that your neighbor, or someone out on a public sidewalk who has a legal right to be where they are, has a legal right to see what they can see. AFAICT, even if they use binoculars. You of couse have a legal right to close the drapes, or maybe build a taller fence, etc. I say maybe because there are all kinds of property covenants that might exist restricting what you can do on your property, and you might have agreed to such restrictions upon buying the property.

And the only law I found restricts recording the scene only if if the observer can be presumed to have some prurient sexual interest in it. Honestly, I don’t know how this could be demonstrated in court, which may be why the law singles out batrooms and dressing rooms, where it could be reasonably assumed the observer was looking at nekkid people. OTOH, perhaps the observer gets off sexually on John Deere lawn tractors, but how you could demonstrate that to a court I wouldn’t know.