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Invasion of privacy?
Qorzm
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I just discovered that my stepdad has a program called iCamSource installed on our family computer. It's been recording movement since at least January. The program is set to only store 1gb of memory, which usually lasts about a month, it seems. It can record sound and 'motion events'. But I also discovered that he has an Apple Time Machine backing up the files. It also looks like he saved particular days. For example, 5 days of July were saved. The back ups go all the way to January. I am pretty sure he has it synced up to his personal laptop. This program also has an iPhone app so that he can watch at any time and control certain features remotely.
Years and years ago, my stepdad installed a keylogger on our family computer for suspicion that my sister was up to no good. He was right, and I ended up getting in trouble for swearing when I was 12. The keylogger was also installed on my personal computer. Learning about these keyloggers has made me an extremely paranoid person, and it does not go well with depression. I was so paranoid to the point that I was convinced that my parents were videotaping me at all times. When I told my mother about my paranoia, she assured me that they were not recording me or my family. This was also years ago, but I am almost certain she is not aware of the recordings that are being done now, and I don't think she'll approve. I have gotten into only a few heated arguments with my stepdad about the keylogging issue, and during the last one he would not promise me that he wouldn't keylog my little sister. I guess using a camera is his loophole?
And now, I discover that he is recording my whole family and creating backups without any just cause and I have no idea what to do, and I need to do something to stop this.
Years and years ago, my stepdad installed a keylogger on our family computer for suspicion that my sister was up to no good. He was right, and I ended up getting in trouble for swearing when I was 12. The keylogger was also installed on my personal computer. Learning about these keyloggers has made me an extremely paranoid person, and it does not go well with depression. I was so paranoid to the point that I was convinced that my parents were videotaping me at all times. When I told my mother about my paranoia, she assured me that they were not recording me or my family. This was also years ago, but I am almost certain she is not aware of the recordings that are being done now, and I don't think she'll approve. I have gotten into only a few heated arguments with my stepdad about the keylogging issue, and during the last one he would not promise me that he wouldn't keylog my little sister. I guess using a camera is his loophole?
And now, I discover that he is recording my whole family and creating backups without any just cause and I have no idea what to do, and I need to do something to stop this.
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I'd think that any decent advice would like to know how old both you, and your sister, are. I'll assume you are both minors, in which case your first stop should definitely be to your mother.
make sure to wave.
seriously though this is pretty ugly. only real advise at this point is talk to mum.
and why do you distrust him? what's he done in the past to make you assume he's doing this in a malicious spirit?
i mean you could come up with some specific argument against the camera or deal with that however, but the deep-seated mistrust is a much bigger deal. camera or no camera, this person has intimate access to your lives anyway.
I'm 20, my older sister is 23 (and was caught by keylogger when she was 15) and my little sister just turned 12.
I can't think of a plausible reason for him to need one. There isn't any reason to distrust anyone in my family, in my opinion. It captures the living room, the entry, and up the stairs and the top hallway. I don't think he would suspect my mom of cheating or anything like that. My older sister has been caught in the past for drugs, but there's no reason to suspect her now. My little sister is still innocent enough to stay out of trouble. I am usually home most of the time, in my room with my door locked because of privacy issues that came and stayed from the keylogger 8 years ago. There just isn't anything to look for.
I distrust him because he lied about the keylogger in the past, and now he is doing this without anyone's consent. It's not necessarily malicious, but it is a huge invasion of privacy, in my opinion.
I mistrust him for invading my privacy before, and now I mistrust him even more because of this privacy invasion.
Edit: My older sister is concerned that he has pictures of her in her underwear or less. The Time Machine was backing up, and I couldn't access the files that were backed up, but I was able to see the dates. She is worried that he could potentially be saving pictures of her, but there is really no basis for that claim. I took the Time Capsule to my room so that he couldn't do anything with it, though I have no way to access the files
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just bring it up. say 'the camera software makes me uncomfortable, can i ask why you need it?'. i'm assuming this is a person who exists within your private life anyway - i don't really see how the 'intrusion' of a bunch of dodgy webcam footage is so immense that you're stressing out about it - but if it gets to you then the only way to resolve it is to discuss it with him and the family
That's a lot of if's and maybe's. I think you at least need to let your mother (and everyone else that will be using that computer) know what's going on here, and then confront him together. If he has a legitimate reason, great. But everyone involved needs to know that this has been happening.
If you have small pets, or dogs or something like that, it could set it off to record.
Yar!
I don't know if your house counts as a private place (I imagine a lawyer could try to argue that it was) but if you need a legal bluff to make him stop, this would be your best shot.
I dunno how to not make this sound horrible, but uhm you read stuff in the papers from time to time about men and voyeurism and stuff.
Can you just 'unplug' or 'cover' the camera, citing the fact it feels uncomfortable to be watched?
Maybe he is using it for home surveillance and hasn't realised the problem it causes. Hard to say without a direct discussion of what the cameras are for.
On the other hand, its his house, and odds are its his laptop that he's bought for you...so depending on your state, he may get to be as silly as a goose as he wants.
In short:
Move out.
Get your mom involved, preferably with your sister present and your step-dad absent - and make sure your mom understands why you and your sister are concerned. Also present the info that Dunadan dug up and mention that you're completely comfortable going to the police.
Also, the fact that your stepdad may be filming your underage sister is more than a little creepy. Whatever happens, if you find photos/videos of her that are in any way compromising, get your ass to the police ASAP
Hugs bro
Talk to your mom first, in private. See if she knows what's going on. If it's as simple as "Oh, it's an impromptu security system" AND the evidence supports this (probably not, but make sure) then you might be condemning him because of trust issues.
Once you talk to her then talk to him about it.
You state the camera is only recording 'public' house areas like the living room, a hallway, entry, and some stairs. I'm kind of wondering how this is much of a privacy issue when those places aren't very private within a home anyways. If this was recording inside bedrooms or whatnot, then yeah, I'd probably be more outraged.
From an outsider perspective, installing keyloggers etc on a family computer if you have young kids is not necesarily a bad thing. I wouldn't use that route, but I can see the reasoning why. There's all kinds of crap young kids can get into on the internet if you don't have a watchful parent. Not knowing how 'overprotective' or paranoid your stepfather is, it may be a reasonable choice. Of course, you and your older sister are both older children and could be reasonably expected to know how to make good choices. It sounds like they don't trust your older sister, but I'm just grasping at straws in trying to determine your family dynamic from a few posts.
There is also precedent; your older sister was caught for drugs or something via the use of this monitoring software. The claim that he might have pictures of her in her underwear or less is odd to me because you said the camera is only monitoring public areas, not bedrooms or bathrooms. Now, if he does have pictures / video of stuff like that - yes, that's a problem and needs to be dealt with.
However, my Something Else is Up Here(tm) meter is dangerously high with this thread.
Also, I often walk around my house in my towel or my underwear when I'm getting ready if I'm home alone. I'd feel incredibly violated if I found out I was being taped without my knowledge and once I informed my mother I'd probably pack a few bags and get the fuck out of there.
Ugh, this . A thousand time this. I'm sorry but i cannot think of any rationale that would make spying , yes, spying on your OWN family somehow a justifiable thing.
I'm thorougly creeped by this. Confront him ASAP and if that doesn't stop uh... yeah get the hell out of here.
Relevant legislation: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=00001-01000&file=630-638
If you are legally an adult, and the computer is yours, i.e. you can demonstrate you bought it or you can prove it was given to you as a gift (even if from your step-dad), then he is breaking the law.
1. Go to your mother and tell her he needs to stop, right now.
2. If she doesn't do anything, go to him and say you'll report it if he doesn't stop, right now.
3. If neither of those work, go to the police.
I would really be careful of bringing in the potential sexual aspect the last few posts have brought up unless you are really convinced that is an element. It is not something to claim just on supposition or convenience, and will escalate the situation to 11 instantly.
This.
You need to be really careful with this since the situation is still very unclear.
Sure, you two don't get along and you have trust issues but you have no evidence that he's a sleaze. For all you know he doesn't even watch the videos unless something suspicious happens. Stick with the privacy thing for now.
You seem to have an axe to grind against this guy regardless and it may be difficult for us to get a fair view of the situation.
Take to your mother and show her the evidence. Stress that he has backed up certain videos for inexplicable reasons, and that your sister is likely captured nude/in her underwear. Let it be your mother's decision whether or not she goes to the police with this, in any case.
Also, why can't you access the files? Is it simply a password protection thing?
All true, but if this was a simple security measure, why is it so secretive? And why are there protected backups of specific dates?
Step 2 is.. in all likelihood, moving out.
Either way, jumping to the sexual predator thing right away is alarming.
Can you back up the protected files on the off and crazy chance he deletes them?
Absolutely do not say this. You have no evidence of it even being a remote possibility. Unless you enjoy throwing matches at powder kegs?
Well, he may not have set the camera up with that intention, but chances are his sister has walked in front of the camera in her underwear when home alone. Hell, maybe she had a guy over and they were fooling around in the living room.
This is creepy as all fuck, if you ask me. The creepy implications far outweigh the "security measure" possibilities.
It doesn't matter if she has or not. Unless he's seen this, it is not something that you accuse people of. Ever.
He can talk to his mom and tell her what he found, but that's it.
I'm a paranoid parent with teenaged kids. We can't afford security and just moved into a new house in a sketchy neighbourhood. I also don't trust my kids or possibly not their friends for whatever reason (if I tell my kids I figure they'll let their friends know about the secret camera. If their friends break in later they'll know to avoid and shut off said camera then my whole plan is busted.) I can do computers though so I set up filming via webcam but kept secret for my personal reasons above.
Now, I don't check the logs often or maybe I do, who knows? One day my daughter walks by in her skivvies. My first reaction is "OH GOD" and deleting it.
On other days I think I notice someone lurking outside the house or maybe one of my son's friends like to search through our stuff when left alone. I save these videos as evidence.
Really, you can't jump to conclusions at this point.
The fact that he didn't tell the family he was doing it makes it seem less and less likely to be a simple security measure. Knowing that the family has issues with him spying on them in the past, if he were going to do something like that in a straightforward fashion it would have been best to tell them in advance.
The OP should definitely talk to his mom about it, and hopefully both sisters are aware this is going on now? If not, they should be.
How long have the cameras been up?
Is this your step dads house?
Did you buy the computer?
Have you asked you step dad to see the footage he has?
And what kind of cameras are these?
And does your step dad do/say anything that makes you worry about him?
You seem to have provided just enough info for people to worry but not all the information. If we are talking about visible cameras in just those places, and he bought you the computer that's something way different from hidden cameras and your personal computer.
My advise for sure is move out, buy your own computer or format the one you have.
Oh God this. Do you have any real reason to suspect the man that your mother married is a sex criminal?
It's the recommended placement, yes. You wander into all kinds of privacy issues with covert recording inside a home, and it's a legal minefield as has been pointed out in the thread.
While it's not the best of motives you don't condemn a guy to prison because he's got trust issues.