CCTV of swimming pool playing in cafe

How is it a café then, and not a seating area?

I assume it's a private pool, in which case, there may not always be a lifeguard, in which case, it's probably for safety - perhaps the cafe is one of the areas most likely to have a staff member in it, in which case, they could be the first to spot an unconscious body in the pool.

ETA - Cross-posted - I see it's an unmanned cafe. So it's probably for parents to watch children.

You can give feedback to the place about safety and safeguarding, then see what they say. Your other option is to find another pool.

But you do walk around the pool in one, and I assume there are other people present?

Oh come on.

Dodgy guys getting their kicks are doing it in the public viewing areas, the CCTV in the café is the same thing.

I’m not confident at all in a swimsuit,
so I get that but the reality is that the camera isn’t going to be zooming in on anyone, the picture quality is unlikely to be top notch and it’s going no wider than people who are using the facilities in the building. If it was streamed online I’d have an issue. Paedophiles and other perverts will find ways of watching anyway. How do other people feel about it?

@Imdunfer You don't like the idea of being watched and that's fair enough. But do you have any reason to believe that this is actually happening?

When you go into this space/cafe is it full of guys ogling the swimmers, or the odd swimming parent with most of their attention on tiktok? I think that matters.

Same setting on ours. Pool is to the left of reception, fully surrounded with glass. Cafe area is above reception and along the pool, with glass all through.
That is the family and lessons pool.
The lengths pool has a pretty large arena sitting, so you can sit comfy and watch the kids/ teens.

It’s so that parents can see what’s going on poolside and can have a coffee and sit down at the same time.. making them money. Being seen by people you can’t see isn’t any kind of a safeguarding issue. What exactly is it you’re doing that you don’t mind people seeing in real life but are absolutely aghast at people seeing on a small screen?

I’d feel exactly the way you feel @Imdunfer i can’t understand the complacency at being watched all day, everywhere we go. Even when we’re supposed
to be relaxing.

I feel the polar opposite of most posters here. I think “what right has some maybe-voyeur-maybe-not to be giving me a good looking over, at his leisure, without me knowing about it?” Some of us just don’t like the feeling. And there’s nothing unusual about my size, shape, physicality.

Presumably they are playing it because:

Parents can chill a bit while they keep an eye on their children having the lessons or their teens. I used to watch mine from outside the pool, because it was behind glass. It is always a mess and a crowd if parents want to stand by the pool itself.

The guys working on the cafe are keeping an eye on the pool themselves. Maybe because there has been bad behaviour or mess and the lifeguard may need some help to control it at times.

I agree with OP. It doesn't sound like this has much purpose and it's obviously going to give pleasure to creeps. People don't need to watch their children having swimming lessons: that's excessive, helicopter-style parenting.

I can see your point about it being shown in a public area. But on the other hand, a characteristic of CCTV is that people you can’t see will be watching you.

At both the pools I go to the cafe forms part of the pool viewing area. There is floor to ceiling glass so everyone having a coffee, and also everyone simply walking past the cafe to the reception desk, can immediately see into the pool.

The cafe is at a slightly higher level than the pool, so when in the pool you can't see everyone in the cafe. So very much like the CCTV in your cafe. It's a non issue. Both pools have been set up this way for at least the past 20 years.

I think you’re overreacting. You don’t always know who’s watching anyway, CCTV or not. Unless you stop swimming at the end of each length, survey the space and make a note of who’s there and what they’re doing. I presume you don’t do that?

Sounds like a fuss about nothing. My ds swimming pool does this so parents can view lessons. No space for everyone to hover around the pool. I can’t even make out my child so doubt peados are watching. No one is paying attention to you in your swimming costume either.

This.

Id assume it's for parents to watch the lessons too, although it's odd that it's on all the time if there aren't many lessons.

Why though? People can see you in a swimming costume in pools or at the beach. What difference does it make whether you can see them? I think you need to process in your mind why this is a problem.

I’m with you OP. I’d hate this. I’m also not confident in my swim suit and this would put me off quite a lot. Hardly anyone ever sits in the poolside viewing area when I go swimming. I’d definitely be uncomfortable with the pool being viewed from elsewhere.