Wireless surveillance cameras - use, laws and ethics. | Wireless Surveillance Cameras as a Nanny Cam

The use of wireless surveillance cameras to catch babysitters and nannies doing what they shouldn’t has seen a rise thanks largely to their success in putting a stop to undesirable and criminal behavior. Even here, though, you should stop, think and then act. You want to protect yourself and, in the interest of legal action, your case against any claims of privacy invasion. 

We’ll be covering some disturbing and difficult topics in this multi-part post. There’s simply no way to soften the blow when it comes to the topic of sexual or physical abuse of a child. In the end, though, I hope this series helps you to recognize the gravity of the situation, the benefits of a nanny cam, and the how to rationally apply one to the protection of your most precious belonging, your child. 

In purchasing a wireless surveillance camera to guard your home and child against an invited but unsupervised guest, discretion is your first consideration. The wireless camera you purchase should either be well hidden or, ideally, a model disguised within an ordinary household item. Nobody likes the idea of being spied on, even when you have a perfectly legitimate reason (the safety of your child) to do so. While knowing they are under the scrutiny of a security camera may serve to dissuade any illicit activity, it’s just as likely to result in any illicit activity simply moving to another unmonitored part of the house. 

In the interest of keeping your babysitter honest, unless you can afford to buy wireless surveillance cameras for every room, you’re better off just owning one or two, keeping them hidden and discreet and placing them in the rooms where you fear or suspect undesirable activity to occur. In most cases, this will be the den or living room in which your television is housed and in your child’s bedroom. Opting for more wireless cameras may even lead to complications from signal bleed-over. You’ll also need software and/or hardware capable of capturing all those different signals and recording the information. Again, one or two cameras will likely suffice and after a session or two of viewing, you can optimize placement based around your babysitter’s habits. 

Though there are many wireless camera models available, we recommend disguised models. Wireless surveillance cameras can be purchased already disguised as virtually any household items. Just a few examples include clocks, sculpture stands, radios, lamps, artificial plants, picture frames, motion detectors, smoke detectors…, the list is practically endless. Your only real consideration for the disguise should be that it doesn’t appear out of place where you plan to use it. 

In our next post we’ll cover the ethics of using wireless surveillance camera to spy on your babysitter or nanny. While the safety of your children is paramount, the people you pay to watch them have rights too. We’ll offer up concerns and solutions, so check back soon for our post on Wireless Nanny Cameras and Your Ethical Obligation!