Neighbour wins privacy row over smart doorbell and cameras
A judge has ruled that security cameras and a Ring doorbell installed in a house in Oxfordshire “unjustifiably invaded” the privacy of a neighbour.
Convenient, SLOTXO easy to use, says it will definitely suit everyone. I’d say it’s a point for many developers. People choose to develop a much more online gameplay.
Dr Mary Fairhurst claimed that the devices installed on the house of neighbour Jon Woodard broke data laws and contributed to harassment.
The judge upheld both these claims.
Mr Woodard now faces a substantial fine. He claimed he installed the devices in good faith as a deterrent against burglars.
The origin of the row stems from an invitation from Mr Woodard to his neighbour Dr Fairhurst to have a tour of his home renovations, during which she claimed he showed off his new security system.
The judgment reads that Dr Fairhurst was “alarmed and appalled” to notice that he had a camera mounted on his shed and that footage from it was sent to his smartphone.
A series of disputes about the cameras followed, which resulted in Dr Fairhurst moving out of her home.
In the judgement it was found that the Ring doorbell captured images of the claimant’s house and garden, while the shed camera covered almost the whole of her garden and her parking space.
Judge Melissa Clarke found that audio data collected by cameras on a shed, in a driveway and on the Ring doorbell was processed unlawfully. She noted that at the time it was not possible to turn off the audio recording facility – that happened in an update in 2020.
She said that she found the audio data that could capture conversations “even more problematic and detrimental than video data”.
“Personal data may be captured from people who are not even aware that the device is there, or that it records and processes audio and personal data,” she said in her judgement.
That, she said, was in breach of UK data laws – both the UK Data Protection Act and UK GDPR.
Amazon, which made both the doorbell and the cameras, said that customers must “respect their neighbours’ privacy, and comply with any applicable laws when using their Ring device.”