Unfaithful Neighbour Asked Me to Remove CCTV Cameras

I live in a townhouse with a shared driveway. A couple of months ago, a young family moved in. On my early morning jogs, I'd see the husband go to work. We made small talk and he told me that he often worked long hours and sometimes FIFO. A family man is a man I respect.

His wife recently confronted me about my CCTV cameras in the shared driveway. She said it made her feel uncomfortable and that she had privacy concerns. My cameras are pointed at my portion of the shared driveway and not into anyone's private space. With the rise of violent home invasions, my cameras are for everyone's safety.

I noticed the wife would sometimes have other men over. I didn't think much of it at first, perhaps a brother or a friend, until she raised her concerns regarding the cameras and I put two and two together. Are her privacy concerns genuine or does she want to discretely fool around whilst her husband is on FIFO?

I'm unsure of the outcome that she is expecting but she implied that she wants them removed. That certainly won't happen. Should this escalate, what can I do? Do I tell her husband and show him the footage of all the men in his house with his wife? Take it up with strata? Bikies?

Stay tuned.

Comments

    • +51

      Why should they?
      Its for everyone’s benefit and not encroaching on anyones (reasonable) privacy.

        • +46

          Cam is in a common area, not in a private area.

          Exactly, so what right to privacy do you expect in a common area?

          What if OP perv on kids, and you have kids, would you be happy to have an OP's camera pointing towards the shared driveway?

          Why would i let my kids play in front of someone elses house if i was concerned about them being a pervert full stop?

          Its a shared driveway, there is no right to privacy.
          Just like taking your kids to the park, people could take photos or videos without your consent as you are in public.

          So that comes down to the parents.

          There is no right or wrong answer, I would just take the camera off :)

          Why though?
          The op has not (yet) overstepped any reasonable boundaries.

          What the OP does and how he does it will tell if it was appropriate or not. But no one can make that decision for him or predict the outcome.

        • +13

          You sound like you're the wife trying to justify the cheating. Ummm no lady. Doesn't work like that. Cheaters will eventually be caught and karma will prevail

          • -6

            @TrumpisKing: If the person next-door neighbour is cheating, it's none of my fricken business. Do you expect the public to babysit your relationship?

            • +4

              @boomramada: As I said. It wasn't his business and he wouldn't have cared until the cheater started trying to tell him to remove the cameras 😂😂

      • +8

        I think OP has already answered thier question:

        " With the rise of violent home invasions, my cameras are for everyone's safety."

        And OP is not even charging anyone for that service,

        As OP has indicated, the wife has erroneous men turning up whilst the husband is away.

        Thats not OPs problem and its not an invasion of privacy as camera is not aimed at thier premises.

        Dont worry OP. Just ignore her with a simle (politely)

        • +2

          Also this part "My cameras are pointed at my portion of the shared driveway "
          Its not like it looks out to their front door.

        • +6

          …….. the wife has erroneous men turning up whilst the husband is away.

          Perhaps they have just gone to the wrong address.

    • I smell chicken.

    • +1

      Found one of the men sneaking into the place…

  • +65

    🍿

    • +16

      Poor neighbor is just doing some house calls to help pay the bills, and OP is ruining business by filming the clients.
      FIFO old mate is grateful for the extra income.
      Luckily, "A family man is a man I respect" so they s will all be sorted when they confront the husband on his return.

      • +2

        I think OP must install camera in their neighbour’s house and become good samaritan (for the FIFO husband).

      • That is a real possibility, tbh.

  • +36

    Thanks for the solid work you are doing to protect me from home invasion. I sleep immeasurably safer at night knowing you are on the case.
    Undoubtedly, your neighbor isn't aware of the massive threat you have defused, and is just concerned about privacy.

    • +12

      I also would like to thank OP for their service

    • +15

      Multiple people seem to have invaded the neighbours home, and the cameras did nothing to stop them 😂😂

      • +3

        Is it just the premises they are entering? Maybe not taking anything, just making a deposit.

  • +21

    keep them and tell the husband

  • +3

    Popcorns and Diet Coke please

    • +13

      My second customer was Susan
      She came in for Diet Pepsi, morning tea each day
      And I said, "You don't need to be on a diet
      Do you wanna come out tonight?"
      .

      • +8

        [bed spring noises]

      • +6

        OPs neighbour makes hamburgers, she gets all the dudes

  • +139

    Stay out of this completely.

    You go pre-emptively showing footage to her hubbie and nothing good will come from it. You're entitled to leave the CCTVs there - beyond that is up to her, don't worry about it.

    But you go wading into this and you risk a MAJOR blowback on you and your family - so the risk vs return makes no sense.

    • +62

      I'm so torn between supporting you because it's the right answer, but it also has the least entertainment value for me.

      At least whatever happens, it'll all be captured on video.

      • +2

        To paraphrase a certain feline from the best adaptation of a book franchise ever:

        "I don't know, a little voice inside of me is saying, "this is a bad idea." but I can barely hear that little voice, because an even louder little voice is screaming, "Do it!.."

    • +5

      Twist: hubby is into it

      Idk I don’t judge. Takes all sorts.

      • +3

        Maybe the wife has a friend who does shift work and she wants him to stay instead of commuting home?

    • +1

      yup, she might be a bunny boiler
      .

    • yeah but, THE FUN !!!

    • +1

      blowback

      I hear backshots

    • +2

      Possibly the only logical and useful comment here. Thanks

  • +14

    Connect it to Earthcam

    • +36

      Tough as nails

        • +48

          Did you even read the post? OP said its facing their portion of a shared driveway. They're not hiding in the wardrobe with a camera filming.

            • +22

              @mskeggs:

              Did you read the title? Where OP describes the neighbor as having extra-marital sex?

              Did you read the bit the OP was filming her having sex? Yeah me either…

              Again, would you really be chill with it if it was your neighbor filming your family and spreading rumors of infidelity?

              OP isn't into filming the neighbour at all, infact they say its not even on their side! They only added the extra-marital part as them explaining why she was upset over the cameras being up.

              Hate to break it to you, but your family is filmed for many hours a day in most cases. Public buses/trains/taxis/shopping centers/school playgrounds are all covered with CCTV. Fill up your car and its recorded, go through the drive thru and its recorded. Walk along the street and you'll be recorded by endless houses with their own CCTV.

              As for the rumour spreading, do you know who the OP was talking about? Yeah me either!

                • +10

                  @mskeggs:

                  That isn't how privacy works. I don't know who the NRL footballer is being investigated right now. But others do, and will be reading. We don't know if the same is true here.

                  Not remotely related. One is splashed in the MSM, one isn't. The number of NRL footballers is very limited to the number of townhouses around.

                  Sure if the OPs friendly neighbour is reading ozbargain they might realise it is them, but that is it.

                  OP says the film doesn't capture anything but their side of the driveway, yet wants to share footage of men in the neighbor's house. OP sure has a lot of details and footage for something of no privacy concern.

                  Its a shared driveway, their side is shared by lots of other people coming and going as well.

                  Its a public space, there is no privacy.

                    • +5

                      @mskeggs:

                      If your neighbor films near your house when your spouse was away, and you had guests, would you be pleased if they took the footage to your spouse saying your were being unfaithful?

                      That is their choice to do that and honestly I can't stop them, so if you haven't done anything wrong, then they'll look like a fool not you.

                      Would I be pissed? Sure.

                      Wouldn't you at least be concerned if that neighbor could be trusted with their cameras, and that they were not being respectful of your privacy?

                      The OP was raising a moral dilemma that has popped up now based on this lady requesting the cameras removed that would most likely have never been an issue if they didn't say anything in the first place.

                      Like all neighbours with cameras, you hope they do the right thing with the video footage. But also like being in the public, there is no right to privacy these days.

                      So yeah you could be Westfield and someone could film you on their phone and you'll end up as a joke on social media.

                      But from what you're telling me is that if your neighbours knew your wife was seeing other men while you had been out of the house, you wouldn't want any of them to tell you.

              • -1

                @JimmyF:

                Yeah me either!

                Me neither. As in "not either".

        • wrong croud, just give up lol

            • @mskeggs: Once again, a bad take comparing someone taking pictures directly of someone vs security camera running 24/7 in a public space.

    • +16

      Is the wife having sex outside on the driveway?

        • +34

          How else would the OP know she was having sex with visitors

          I'll take things the OP didn't say for $1000 Eddie.

          • -8

            @JimmyF: The heading says unfaithful, the body says "fooling around", and OP offered to show the husband "footage of all the men in his house with his wife", what did you take it to mean?

            • +6

              @mskeggs:

              OP offered to show the husband "footage of all the men in his house with his wife", what did you take it to mean?

              Doesn't mean the OP can see inside, as the OP said

              I noticed the wife would sometimes have other men over. I didn't think much of it at first, perhaps a brother or a friend,

              Based on this, the OP isn't seeing inside the house if they thought it was a brother at first. Not sure about you, but most guys don't go banging their sister. Do you?

              So after this event remove the cameras, they have taken a bit more notice of who is coming and going. They are also in a townhouse with a shared driveway. I doubt they are looking at the video footage to see them coming and going!

              I have cameras up, but never look at the footage unless I'm looking for something that happened. But I still know a lot of my neighbours movements just from using my GASP eyes, like the old lady over the road who spends 3/4 of the day in the garden every single day. I didn't need a camera to tell me that!

    • +15

      Firstly, you wouldn't you'd probably cry; secondly, no one is being filmed having sex.

        • +12

          Mate, she is only 'uncomfortable' as she is banging someone else on the side!

          Maybe the OP should tell her than when the husband is home next, he'll come over and they all can sit down and have a chat about the camera and what is can see.

        • +5

          Everyone got filmed regardless of age and gender.

          Those dome cameras have extremely wide angle. They may not look like they point at your place but the moment you pop your head at the window, you are in.

          Kids get filmed daily by neighbours' cameras if they run past anyone's property. Even when they play in the park, they would be in the coverage of nearby residential cameras and council camera.

    • +2

      Strong reading comprehension.

  • +22

    Start bribing her. Start with $20 per week.

    • +7

      @ Fredfloresjr

      You mean extort, or blackmail, I think.

      If you're going to make a nasty, smart-ass joke, at least use the correct English terms.

      • +5

        Damn, Albert Einstein friend is having a bad day aye. Who hurt you?

        • +5

          … a prying neighbour who threatened to expose my perfectly private and innocent activities. LOL

      • +3

        smart-arse*, correct English terms please, not US of A.

        • +2

          Interesting point, fellow Sandstormer…

          It seems that even in British English the use of 'ass' dates way back, even to Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

          Yet the expression 'smart-ass' and/or 'smart-arse' seems relatively recent; the 1960's. It first appears in Oxford English Dictionary in 1965 (after being used in print by Thomas Keneally), yet this is after earlier references in US dictionaries.

          So, I guess to be totally pedantic and purist, one could say the ass came before the arse, and is possibly more 'correct'.

          But this is ridiculous, and definitely not how we usually use our arses in Australian (and British) English.

          And I didn't take any of that into account when I made my smart-arse comment. I used 'ass' for exaggerated effect, juxtaposing it with my later saying 'correct English' in the same sentence.

          So yes, you are 100% correct in saying it should be arse in normal Aus English. And I maybe wasn't 100% clear in my attempt at a witty retort.

          • @Roman Sandstorm: You got nothing better to do on a Saturday afternoon? lol

            • +1

              @Cusack: Well, @Cusack, my time is my own. If I choose to waste it making boring comments on a forum, that's on me, surely?

              Your comment, on the other hand, is pointless and asinine. You obviously took the time to read the comment thread, but instead of then having an opinion on said threat, or contributing constructively, you chose to make a negative 'nothing' observation.

              Your comment is a bit like those oh-so-smart-arse people who make such an effort and describe some issue as a 'first world problem'. That sort of thing says way more about the paucity of imagination and thought process of the commenter than anything else.

              And, if your real contention is that my reasoned thought is essentially a waste of time; fair enough. I'd go on to say that probably 99.99% of all comments on this forum, and every other internet forum is basically pointless and a waste of time.

          • @Roman Sandstorm: Trying to give that more "+"'s but it won't let me. Witty retort!

        • This is not accurate. Both are acceptable.

          • +1

            @darkmattersunB6c0MV: Yeah, @darkmattersunB6c0MV.

            I just took hundreds of words to say this. And this seems to have particularly upset some folks.

  • +24

    I put two and two together

    And got 7.

    • +4

      in a row!?

      • Does that include me?

      • +2

        37…

    • Not 69?

  • +4

    Maybe she has a manscaping business from home or onlyfans

    Husband is cool with it as he does the same when away

  • +22

    What is the link for the live feed? Asking for a friend.

  • +17

    Yes tell the husband is a great idea.

    And please continue to update us all.

    • +4

      I look forward to hearing about this in a crime podcast, so don't spoil the ending pls.

    • At least there will be cameras to capture the aftermath.

    • +3

      Please have the conversation in front of your camera so it can be shared.

  • +9

    Mind your own bloody business Dorrie Evans.

    • +2

      Dorrie Evans. Now that’s a blast from the past. Perhaps the neighbours wife is called Abigail?

  • +4

    I can't wait till OP sees the husband and says "I've been filming your wife even after she told me to stop, and I'm imagining her having sex with lots of men. No need to thank me."

    • +21

      Mate… are you one of her regulars?

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