Colgan WE’RE LIVING NEXT DOOR TO MALICE...
Nosy neighbours a nuisance
CHOICES: Claire Byrne said she feels exhausted trying to balance her work with her time with family
LOTS of people don’t know their neighbours these days.
So neighbourly acts like taking in each other’s post, putting the bins out and watering plants are replaced with rows over little things because people don’t know each other well enough.
Now, the 21st century neighbourhood arguments are over parking spaces, boundaries and privacy.
A UK homeowner is facing a £100,000 court bill after a judge ruled that his video doorbell breached his neighbour’s privacy.
The judge at Oxford County Court found the use of the video doorbell by Jon Woodward broke data protection laws and amounted to harassment of his neighbour.
His neighbour argued that the video devices put her under “continuous visual surveillance” and said Mr Woodward had become aggressive when she complained about the cameras. obvious thing to do.
And no, I didn’t ask my neighbours for permission for what I wanted to do with my own home beforehand.
Lotsofmyneighbourshavevideo doorbells an d CCTV c ameras themselves.
And they share footage as needed when there are reports of unexpected door- to- door callers or anti- social behaviour.
It seems to be the modern day way of being neighbourly.
The peace of mind that the cameras provide seem to outweigh anyone’s concerns. It’s either that or they keep their annoyance to
themselves.
CLOSE EYE: Video doorbell Protection
Video doorbells and surveillance systems aren’t for spying, they’re for protection.
People have a high opinion of themselves if they think neighbours with video doorbells are using them to monitor their movements or spy on their Tech giants like Amazon and d backyard barbecue.
Google argue that it’s up to o The cameras help to keep hhd d owners to comply with each h homes safe. No longer missing country’s laws and that video doordeliveries or seeing who called bells have features aimed at ensuring when you’re out is an added bonus. others’ privacy, including limits on Nobody objects to the need for CCTV areas where movement could be cameras in shops, restaurants or other detected and the camera switched on. businesses that use them as deterrents In Ireland, there is a hou sehold and surveillance tools. exemption for most video doorbells Our homes, which are arguably more and data protection laws don’t apply. important to keep safe, should be no Installing a video doorbell was one different. of the first things I did when I got my Nosy neighbours might still exist, long-awaited keys. but they wouldn’t be so obvious as to Along with changing the locks and install overt video doorbells and camputting in a new alarm system, installeras if they were trying to hide their ing a video doorbell seemed like the curiosity.
Comply