Anyone have a nest cam?

[MGMidget]

I wondered if anyone who has a nest cam could tell me a bit about them please as I am a little spooked by one installed very close to our bedroom window?

Our neighbours installed one just below their bedroon window. We found out by chance that the wide viewing angle takes in our front garden as well as the street in front of their house.

I have read that nest cams also record audio so, as the camera is so close to our bedroom window I wondered if they may be able to record conversations or any other noise in our bedroom?

We aren’t friendly with them and they are hostile towards us so I can’t just have a chat with them to find out. I would appreciate some nest cam users telling me their views so I have some idea. Not feeling comfortable at the situation at the moment. DH is working from home and using a desk in the bedroom so all his confidential business conversations as well as our own private conversations are happening in the room!

The camera is installed about 1.5 metres from our bedroom window and we have Victorian style wooden sashes so they aren’t completely sealed when shut.

Thanks!

Hi.

I have one. It picks up a lot. I'd say that yes, it is possible they can hear sounds from your bedroom. Sorry.

Tbf it's a v good cam. Mine is above my front door. People walk by around 4 metres away and i can hear their conversations very well. Quite a few abiutvjow nice my house looks now it's done up!!!!

No camera should overlook a neighbour. You are entitled not to be have your privacy compromised. I would ask if they could move it.

Have a look at data protection laws and how cameras should be positioned.

PresentingPercy, yes in principle you are right. However, our neighbours arent very nice so unless they were forced legally to move it they wont move it. I enquired on a data protection enquiry number regarding the law on this and it seems that data protection law isn’t enforced by the authorities against individuals, only businesses. So basically there isn’t much we can do apart from have a polite conversation with them and rely on their goodwill to move it (and we know they won’t do this). Therefore we just want to know what they may be able to hear. DH already decided we must move house because of it so better not to start a legal battle with them that we cannot win. Better not to draw prospective buyers attention to it!

As a matter of interest do most people have the sound activated on their nest cam and is there any visual signal on the cam to show if it is recording sound? And do sound recordings get stored and kept for a period of time? I just dont like the idea we may be being eavesdropped on!

Nice that you hear flattering comments about your house from passers by though Samosamo! That must be reassuring! Its just the indoor conversations that we assume to be private that I worry about!

Mine is outside the front door and I have heard indoor conversation on it when the door is closed and the person is standing right next to the door.

Sorry. How long it is kept depends on package bought. Could becseceral months or a day.

I was a little curious by this post so I went to the upstairs bedroom (directly above the nest camera and front door).
I cracked the windows open and began to have a conversation with myself. Thankfully the camera didn't pick the conversation.

Hope this helps!

Ah. Maybe it's v directional then.

I found this advice. Is it voyeurism? Harassment? There was more but it wasn’t helpful.

Thanks PresentingPercy. I think the problem is that it is hard to know if they are recording sound or not and if so if they are actually getting our conversations or any other noise from our house on their recordings!

I suspect the police wouldn't do much and we'd have to declare a 'dispute' with our neighbour so if trying to sell we wouldn't be able to! No-one would want to buy a house next door to a snooping neighbour so even if it wasn't clear if they were snooping or not I would have thought that our concern about it would be enough to make any prospective buyer walk away?

Aloevera, your experience gives me some hope they aren't picking anything up! Nevertheless I suspect it depends how loud we talk and how close to the window at the time perhaps. If we have a row they probably hear it all!

Aloevera, do you have a Nest IQ cam or just the ordinary Nest cam? Our neighbours seem to have the Nest IQ cam and I think the audio is much better with this. I have seen demonstration videos on YouTube with people quite far away being picked up on the audio so just curious if your's is one of the IQ cameras?

I’m bumbing this thread for more comments please from Nest cam users, particularly those with the Nest IQ cam and ZNest Aware subscription. Does it pick up conversations well/at a reasonable distance?

@MGMidget mine notifies me when it hears noise (you can turn that function off but no one but the owner of the app would be able to tell if that's on or off) it also saves the audio file for 60 days to the cloud if they pay for nest protect

@MGMidget having said that, our camera is underneath our bedroom window and it only picks up outside noise. No sexy noise detected. Even if I shout downstairs from
Our room to DH the outside camera doesn't pick it up.

It does pick up us talking in the back garden and the dog barking but no inside noise

Nest camera only gets triggered when there is activity and records a clip around that time. So unless there is some movement in front of it, nothing will be recorded. Sound doesn't trigger recording. Most people only quickly browse through their recordings to check if there was any significant activities. It's very tedious to watch full recordings of a postman making a drop or a cat going past. Most of the time you don't even keep the volume up. Its only really useful when you know of some event and want to investigate (like a theft or vandalism).

You are getting needlessly worried.

I would speak with local authorities and see your rights. If that gets you nowhere yet having a civil discussion with the neighbors to voice your concern. If that falls through, invest in an outdoor speaker and mount it under your window, on your property, as close as possible to their camera and blast music. That should end it.