Smile, you’re on spy camera
Bonnie Flaws and Mandy Te look at the privacy issues highlighted by a bridal party’s unpleasant surprise.
Are you being watched by hidden cameras in rental holiday homes?
The issue made headlines after unsuspecting guests at a holiday rental discovered a hidden camera in a lightbulb. The bridal party and wedding photographer found the device in Taupaki, west Auckland after they heard a buzzing sound and noticed the lightbulb was on an odd angle.
It’s a phenomenon that has some precedent, with reports from Britain and the United States of Airbnb guests finding hidden devices. But is it legal?
Planting hidden cameras is illegal in New Zealand, associate professor of commercial law and privacy expert Gehan Nilendra Gunasekara said.
Installation of a camera like the one found in Taupaki, which was located in the centre of the open dining room and connected living room, could be motivated by previous negative experiences with guests who damaged the property or stole items, or in some other way breached the terms and conditions.
But a host still would not be within their rights to install a camera in these circumstances.
‘‘You can’t install a hidden camera on the off-chance that somebody might do something illegal, that’s simply not allowed,’’ Gunasekara said.
Landlords who installed spy cameras could face criminal or civil action, he said.
Recording guests in a bathroom was considered a serious criminal offence under the intimate filming provisions of the Crimes Act.
It would also be possible to make a claim against the company that rented the property out because there was an implied right to privacy in a rental property, Gunasekara said.
The ready availability of hidden recording devices was an issue, private investigator Daniel Toreson said.
While the number of items being bought is small, individuals intent on recording people without their knowledge could find these items without restriction.
‘‘If you look on OzSpy or any of these websites that sell hidden cameras you’ll see cameras you can put in tissue boxes or in mirrors,’’ the Bug Sweeps business director said.
‘‘They’re almost imperceptible, you can’t tell there’s a camera in there. You could look right at it, right next to it and you won’t see the camera. So it’s a real concern.’’
One option for those renting a holiday home was to spend some time checking for cameras on arrival, he said. But with some lenses as small as just 2 millimetres in diameter, it would be really hard to find them without specialist equipment.
‘‘You can literally drill a hole as small as a pinprick and put the camera behind that,’’ he said.
Clues to look out for were unusual-looking coat hooks with a black dot, especially in a bathroom or bedroom, or unusual tissue boxes or clocks. ‘‘The really devious ones are found in bathrooms and bedrooms,’’ Toreson said.
If a host wanted to install security cameras, the devices would need to be clearly signposted and the guests would also need to be alerted at the time of booking that the premises were monitored by cameras, he said.
Trade Me spokesman Logan Mudge said lightbulb spy cameras could be legally sold in New Zealand but the site strictly forbade any advertising that implied they could be used illegally, such as by making intimate digital recordings.
An Airbnb spokesman said hosts were required to identify devices and if they would be recording during the reservation.
‘‘Such devices are never permitted in private spaces of the listing, such as bathrooms, bedrooms or other sleeping areas.’’
‘‘You can’t install a hidden camera on the off-chance that somebody might do something illegal.’’ Privacy expert Gehan Nilendra Gunasekara