How to Spot a Nanny Cam
We live in a world where our right to privacy is often ignored and we are recorded without our knowledge or consent. In today’s era of the smartphone, anything and everything about us can be uploaded online without our knowing and will stay online for everyone to see. While the rise of the smartphone poses one risk in our daily life, a surge in ‘nanny cams’ has taken place within homes.
This comes as parents worry that babysitters are neglectful towards the children they are paid to protect. However, the line is very fine between invading that person’s privacy and recording someone in the name of protecting your child. If you are a babysitter, we are here to give you 7 tips on how to spot a nanny cam.
Honesty and Clarity
This may come as a bit of no-brainer but speak to the homeowners. Ask them whether they have set up any nanny cams within the house. This direct approach is often the quickest, and easiest way of determining whether you run the risk of being recorded. In the best-case scenario, the parent or homeowner will be upfront and tell you.
If this is the case, act accordingly and voice your concerns with nanny cams, if you have any. In the worst-case scenario, they act defensively and tell you there are none set up. If this is the case, you may have to do some investigative work of your own.
Do Some Digging
Technological progress in modern times has meant that cameras (with astounding image quality) keep getting smaller and smaller. This means that they are becoming easier to hide and disguise within every day, household objects. Movies often depict the cute teddy bear propped up on the shelf with a glass eye as the spot to hide a nanny cam.
However, these hiding spots can extend to other items such as clocks, strollers, and other daily items. The one thing that remains constant is that they will typically be placed within rooms where you and the child interact the most. That is, either the child’s room or the living room.
Keep Your Eyes Peeled
If the nanny cams are hidden within the plain site in the form of everyday objects, spotting the little cameras may pose some difficulty. However, there are some tell-tale signs that you may be being recorded. Typically recording devices will have a small red or green LED light which glows to indicate that it is recording.
So, let your inner investigator out and turn off the lights. With the lights off, the identification of these recording lights becomes easier as you can spot any potential nanny cams if they have that pesky LED light. Unfortunately, this is not a method which will always guarantee results as there are nanny cams on the market which have been developed without these recording signals.
Move Beyond the Lights
While the presence of LED lights can often signal the placement of nanny cams, often this will not be the case. A second physical clue of hidden cameras is the existence of wires which seem to be out of place.
If there is unexplained wiring lead in and out of objects which do not require an electrical connection, this can often be linked to the placement of nanny cams. So, follow the leads, quite literally, and see where the wires take you.
From the Windows to the Walls
While the placement of nanny cams in everyday objects may be a common occurrence, homeowners and parents have smarted up to these tactics. Rather than placing recording devices within objects which may seem quite ordinary, people have begun to utilize their houses to this end. Placing nanny cams within walls has become a new means of setting up hidden cameras. This requires only a small hole as the lens needs the smallest of spaces to record from.
Furthermore, electrical wiring and recording lights can be hidden in the wall space. This means that a more concerted effort is required to identify the presence of these nanny cams as there are no physical markers of their existence.
Use Your Senses
Our everyday life is often governed and controlled by what our eyes can pick up, and often this is not as accurate as we would like. In these cases, we turn to our senses, typically our ability to hear. This can also be true in the search of spotting nanny cams.
The existence of nanny cams, where out of sight, can be located through a low, audible buzzing sound in most cases. This is the case as most electronic devices have motors which give off energy in the form of sound waves. In a busy, loud environment these will be hard to notice but given a calm climate, an audible clicking or buzzing sound will be unmistakeable.
Get High-tech
If policies of honesty or using our powers of sight and sound have not been totally successful, don’t give up hope. Nanny cams, like all electronic devices, emit radio signals which are beyond the spectrum of human hearing.
Fortunately, the development of products such as radio frequency detectors can assist you in picking up objects which emit these signals. The drawback with these devices is that your employee may catch you in the act of sweeping the room if there are nanny cams set. If you have the money to purchase one of these devices, it may be worth your while if you’re concerned with potential hidden cameras.
Conclusion
We hope that the tools and tricks we have provided will allow you to work in an environment that protects your privacy. Hopefully, these bring out your inner detective and you’re successful in searching out these cameras. In most states, the presence of hidden recording devices falls within a gray legal area.
If you feel that an employer or home owner is infringing on your rights, use these tips to find these devices and consult with a legal advisor as to how best remedy this situation. If this is the case, it may be worth your while finding a better place of work where trust and honesty come first. Good luck on your search to spot nanny cams!