A Camera on My House

[Elspode]

[quote=tw]And that is all feelings. Meanwhile, it means buglars will not find your house an easy target. Whether on tape or just humanly watched, either way, its still all in public. So what? Would you also avoid London for same reasons?
[quote]
Cameras in London watch *everybody*, not just one residence and family. Bri's house and yard are not public places. London's streets are.

Since when did you become passive, TW?

[somekind]

I really enjoyed reading this thread and learned some new techniques!!

[Spexxvet]

Welcome to the Cellar, somekind. Hope the neighbors stop bothering you.

[somekind]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

Welcome to the Cellar, somekind. Hope the neighbors stop bothering you.

Thanks. I'm trying to deal with it. I live in a peaceful neighborhood that would be quiet if not for 15 neighbors with dogs that bark a lot.

I have been trying to document the problem by videotaping the offending dogs and uploading their barking to the internet. I want to know where the noise is coming from. It could be 2 dogs or 20 and I'd like to know.

Since there has been a duscussion about legality in this thread I'd like to pose some 'expectation of privacy' questions:
(I'm only taping dogs here; no people or inside of houses.)

Is it legal to videotape my neighbor's dog in it's yard from within my yard? I can easily see over the fence (5'). It barks a lot and is annoyingly cute and I have a lot of video of it now.

How about if the fence is taller than I am (6'1") and I stand on a stool or hold my camera over the fence? What if the fence is at the street and I am on the sidewalk holding the videocamera over the fence (I can peek at the LCD display). I'm only taping yard/dog.

I'm going to assume that any dog I can see from the street is fair game to videotape.

My neighbors' dogs bark at each other across my house. I often honk a bicycle horn with the dogs; sometimes it shuts them up (or gets the neighbor to). I'd like to come up with a noise maker to alert them that doesn't jeopardize me. I don't want to be cited for being a nuisance, so I thought about putting my weed whacker next to the dog-fence and running a 100ft cord to my bedroom. That way I can run it briefly when the dog starts barking. I know the neighbors hate that noise. Well, at 8 am on weekends, the barking is a pain, too.

I thought about starting the clarinet, but I'd rather something that takes less effort.

(I don't actually talk to the neighbors about the problem. I wouldn't expect them to react favorably).

Sometimes I just call the police and let them check it out (it's a violation of city code and the owner can be cited, especially if not home when the problem is occurring).

[BigV]

The problem:

I don't actually talk to the neighbors about the problem. I wouldn't expect them to react favorably.

Everything else is a symptom. I recommend treating the problem and not the symptom for the best chance for success.

ymmv

[SteveDallas]

Originally Posted by somekind

Since there has been a duscussion about legality in this thread I'd like to pose some 'expectation of privacy' questions:
(I'm only taping dogs here; no people or inside of houses.)

Is it legal to videotape my neighbor's dog in it's yard from within my yard? I can easily see over the fence (5'). It barks a lot and is annoyingly cute and I have a lot of video of it now.

How about if the fence is taller than I am (6'1") and I stand on a stool or hold my camera over the fence? What if the fence is at the street and I am on the sidewalk holding the videocamera over the fence (I can peek at the LCD display). I'm only taping yard/dog.

I'm going to assume that any dog I can see from the street is fair game to videotape.

IANAL. I believe it is fair to say that if you are on public property (i.e. a street, sidewalk, park, etc.) or on your own property, you can photograph whatever you can see legally with some limited exceptions (military installation, etc.). (This will not stop you from being hassled by cops who decide they don't like what you're doing, or by the olympic boxing gold medalist whose hot girlfried you just took a snapshot of.)

Note I said "you" are on public property. What you're taking a picture of does not have to be.

I don't know how this applies to video, as opposed to photos.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Won't hold water. If you are video taping the dog, and it can see you or even the camera, you're provoking it.
You have to prove the dog is barking without provocation.

[Kingswood]

Originally Posted by boobird1757

I am also a person of this legal harassment. I have a neighbor who has a camera on my entire house!! IT is SOOOOOOOO annoying and wrong!! I have seen his video..and it has my house one side to the next in it and he is video taping my children as well as myself and our neighbors. He has tried using the video against us and still nothing is wrong with it. He claims my children to be throwing rocks at his house when in reality my daughter is out in my drive eating peanuts and throwing the shells to the road..then another of my son throwing a rock up the street and giving it to the landlord stating we are doing something wrong..it took me a week to get her to see that and to dismiss the evidence he had against us..it is crazy!!!! He also used a video of my son retrieving a ball off his property claiming that it did damage to his house when in reality in the video it never even touched it. This guy is single and I find it rather strange that he would videotape my children..and apparently is trying to cause problems with it. I am for any idea of stopping this..I am sure there are other people with this problem out there. It needs to be STOPPED!!! I am with you as far as trying to remain legal on the fight against the cameras. But as to how far you can go without it becoming a legal battle is another sticky situation..but we should not go down without a fight!!!!!!!!!!!

He is recording your children? Maybe you should have a chat to the local police. I don't know how the law works in your jurisdiction, but the filming of other people's children is not tolerated in many jurisdictions due to concerns about child pornography. If he was raided tomorrow, he may have a hard time justifying to the police why he has these recordings of your children. So if you approach it from the "child pornography" angle, it is more likely to be investigated than the more general "filming my house" approach.

[somekind]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Won't hold water. If you are video taping the dog, and it can see you or even the camera, you're provoking it.
You have to prove the dog is barking without provocation.

That's good and all, but I'm just trying to document my problem, not prove anything. The problem exists with or without me.

[Sun_Sparkz]

hows it going bri? anymore wacky taping going on or are you starting to feel comfortable again at home- i really hope you are.

sun

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by somekind

That's good and all, but I'm just trying to document my problem, not prove anything. The problem exists with or without me.

Document it for whom? You don't need to be convinced and anyone else you try to convince with the tapes, should tell you the same thing I did.

[somekind]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Document it for whom? You don't need to be convinced and anyone else you try to convince with the tapes, should tell you the same thing I did.

I uploaded the barking dog videos to youTube, so I guess I'm documenting them for the world to see. Some of the videos show dogs barking at the camera; they'll bark at anything they see. Regardless, it's a violation of city code to allow a dog to bark for extended periods for any reason.

Other dogs I was able to video tape without being seen, so the dogs are barking at something else.

Any dog owner who lets their dog bark will make the same accusation; but I'm not out provoking dogs. I'm just trying to enjoy some peace and quiet.

[LabRat]

#1. Make a trip to your local city hall and check out YOUR city ordianances regarding barking, (and videotaping) They are likely online, ours are.
#2 Take the information regarding barking/noise pollution to your neighbors and talk to them, with that info in hand. Give them a copy! Document the date and what was said to each.

That way, when you make formal complaints to the police etc, you have a record of what was said and when, and that the neighbors have a copy of the ordinances and can't claim ignorance of the problem.

Good luck, let us know how it turns out.

[somekind]

Thanks for the recommendation. I don't confront people about stuff like this, they're likely to 'explode'.

Sometimes I just call the police. If they show up and the neighbor is out and the dog is still barking, that is proof enough.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I should think they are much more likely to explode when they find out you've sicced the cops on them than just telling them their dog is annoying you.
I also think you're setting yourself up for some serious backlash.

I seriously sympathize with you because I had a neighbor that would let his dog bark for 8 hrs straight. I'm not kidding, that sumbitch would not stop for more than a minute in 8 hours.