Is installing a video doorbell on the door an infringement of my privacy?
Our reporter Zhao Jiulong and Zhu Guoliang
In recent years, electronic peepholes, smart video doorbells, and smart door locks with monitoring functions have entered more and more homes, known as "family guards", and even become standard equipment in some high-end communities.
However, it was originally safe and convenient, but it caused "insecurity" worries. The video doorbell made other owners living next to each other feel inconvenient, causing many disputes, and some even went to court.
Can residents install video doorbells privately?
Does personal private collection of public images infringe on the privacy and personal information rights of others?
How to effectively supervise and promote the healthy development of the smart home industry?
Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter conducted an investigation.
"The camera is facing the door of my house." Who disturbed the video doorbell?
At the end of January this year, Xia Daohu, the president of the Jiangsu Higher People's Court, proposed to strengthen the protection of civil rights. The "video doorbell infringes the privacy of neighbors" case has been concluded.
The case aroused widespread concern and heated discussions among netizens.
Zhang and Wu who live in Wuxi are opposite neighbors.
In 2019, Wu installed a video doorbell at the door of his home. The doorbell has functions such as infrared night vision, automatic video recording, storage, and uploading to the Internet. When Wu opens the video doorbell software, he can grasp all the conditions at the door.
However, the neighbor Zhang is very anxious because of Wu's new "high-tech" products.
It turned out that the nearest entrance door between Zhang and Wu was only 1.56 meters. Zhang had to pass through Wu's door to enter and exit his house. The rules and status of his entry and exit of the house could be recorded by Wu's visual doorbell.
If Zhang opened the door, the conditions in the house were all monitored and recorded by Wu's doorbell.
Zhang believes that the video doorbell of Wu's house not only records the time of entering and exiting the house, but also photographs the situation inside the house, which seriously violated his personal privacy.
To this end, Zhang sued Wu to the court.
The Liangxi District People’s Court of Wuxi City held that although Wu installed the video doorbell to protect his personal and property safety, his behavior has constituted an infringement of Zhang’s privacy rights, so he ruled that Wu removed the video doorbell and deleted it. Related image data.
The reporter visited and learned that similar worries are not uncommon.
"He has no problems monitoring his own home, but don't bring us along." Mr. Feng, a resident of Wanda Xidi Second Block, Jianye District, Nanjing City, told reporters that his neighbor installed an electronic device on the wall next to his door. Cat's eye, facing the door of his house, can clearly see infrared light at night.
"It seems that the life of a family is being monitored, and there are children in the family, who are always worried, afraid that neighbors or tenants of his family will be malicious."
Mr. Wang, a citizen who lives in Yanziji Street, Qixia District, Nanjing, also encountered this problem recently.
He said that at the end of last year, the neighbor's home installed electronic peepholes, which happened to be opposite to his own door.
"There are two households on the first floor in the old community, and there is always a feeling in my heart that someone is peeping at myself, it is really uncomfortable."
The reporter searched on the online shopping platform and found that products such as "electronic peephole cameras" and "smart video doorbells" cost hundreds of yuan. Some also launched the "0 yuan electronic peephole stolen insurance", and some priced at two to three thousand yuan. The smart door lock has a built-in surveillance camera, which is more concealed.
A number of top-selling products include "monitoring cat eyes, remote housekeeping", "high-definition night vision, the door is dark and clear", "AI face recognition, inform visitors at any time", "high-definition shooting, cloud storage" and other introductions, and declared The function is still being upgraded.
According to a customer service staff of a Taobao store, if someone stays at the door of the house for a short time, the mobile phone app bound to the electronic peephole can automatically pop up a prompt and automatically record the picture.
Provide convenience but cause new anxiety, video doorbell saves supervision gap
At present, smart homes have gradually become a part of daily life. The video doorbell with automatic recording and camera functions allows us to shut out potential dangers, which indeed brings a lot of convenience.
Mr. Liu, a citizen of Nanjing, told reporters that he didn't know about video doorbells at first, and felt that a normal cat's eye would be enough.
However, sometimes the lights in the corridor are not on, and someone stands outside and knocks on the door to see through the cat's eyes.
Some time ago, someone knocked on the door, and the family opened the door without seeing clearly. As a result, a stranger broke in and finally had to call the police.
"Now my family is urging me to quickly install a camera or an electronic peephole at the door, but I am worried that my neighbors will disagree."
Ms. Wu, who lives in a high-end community in Jianye District, said that she heard someone outside the door open her door with a key late at night. There was a lot of movement, and she kicked the door if she couldn't open it.
"I was at home alone. I was scared to death. I don’t know if my neighbor was drunk and confessed to the wrong door, or if a gangster tried to enter the house and commit crimes. Maoyan, I didn't expect to negotiate with my neighbors at the time."
Although people currently have different attitudes towards smart video doorbells, in recent years, the video doorbell market has continued to heat up, with increasing functions and technology content, and more "parity", attracting many people to buy.
According to the data from the company, there are more than 2,000 surviving companies related to video doorbells in my country.
In 2014, the number of registrations exceeded 100, and the number of registrations in the following years has shown an increasing trend. 2020 is the year with the largest number of registrations in the past few years, with a total of about 320 companies registered.
Regarding the concerns of many people that may affect the privacy of neighbors, the reporter found that many video doorbells currently sold on the Internet basically have functions such as wide-angle, high-definition camera, and infrared perception. Some also claim to have waterproof function, and some products are even in advertisements. The farthest detection distance is said to be up to 5 meters.
The reporter found in the online shopping message area that, in addition to complaining about the quality of individual products, many buyers are welcoming video doorbells.
"This video and the photo are very clear, and the doorbell is also convenient and beautiful." "People who always feel suspicious are at the door. Now you can receive the video whenever there is movement. After installing it, it feels safer. "If people are not at home, couriers and takeaways are placed at the door, and within the scope of the cat's eye monitoring, it is safer to prevent loss."
However, as the video doorbell has more and more functions, especially cloud storage, AI face recognition and other functions, it is more likely to cause the personal privacy of "neighbors" to be collected or even leaked.
According to industry insiders, the current supervision in this area is almost blank, it is difficult to obtain evidence, and the relevant laws and regulations lag behind the development of the industry, the judgment standards are not clear, the sentencing is difficult, the conviction is difficult...
The reporter's investigation found that the memory card of the video doorbell can record 24 hours a day. The recording time varies according to the memory card capacity, picture clarity, and battery capacity, and some can last as long as half a month.
"Cloud storage" will only record when the screen changes, and will not record when the screen is still.
This also means that the recorded video uploaded from the local to the cloud storage may include a large number of people's activities, and even face information.
Therefore, many netizens worry about whether the background storage of recorded videos is safe, even if the neighbors are not subjectively malicious, it is still dangerous if the information recorded in the cloud is leaked.
"The lack of supervision is even more worrying. Although there are many cases of dismantling by court rulings, more and more people are installing smart video doorbells." Citizen Mr. Wang said.
Private collection of public images should be cautious, and neighbourhood disputes should be paid attention to
Feng Qingming, assistant judge of the People's Court of Liangxi District of Wuxi City, said that the right to privacy is an important personality right of civil subjects, and its protection reflects social progress.
In some cases, does the plaintiff’s claim of "individual activities in the house and information about entering and leaving the house" fall within the scope of privacy protection?
Did the defendant’s act of installing a video doorbell at his door violated the plaintiff’s right to privacy?
These are all new problems brought about by traditional privacy infringement cases in the information age and high-tech development.
In addition, in the common areas shared by neighbors, do they enjoy privacy rights independently of each other?
Before installing cameras at their doorsteps, are residents obligated to inform their neighbors?
Industry insiders told reporters that there are no detailed and express provisions on this matter in the current regulations or property management regulations.
According to the typical cases of the courts in various places, most of the people who installed the cameras are unreasonable, and the focus of the residents' disputes lies on the knowledge and consent of the residents being photographed.
The interviewed industry insiders believe that the smart video doorbell may completely record the daily access information of neighbors, which can be tracked and analyzed, and it is suspected of snooping.
Due to the complexity of the subject and the lack of corresponding supervision, private collection of public images poses greater hidden dangers.
Once biological information such as human faces is leaked, it will seriously infringe the personal information and privacy of the person being collected. With current technology, generally only the first leaker can be traced. As for how many times these data have been transferred, it is difficult to determine and hold accountable. .
Yang Xiao, head of the comprehensive team of the First Civil Tribunal of the Jiangsu Higher People’s Court, stated that Article 1032 of the Civil Code, which was implemented on January 1, 2021, stipulates that “privacy is the peaceful and unsafe private life of a natural person. We are willing to make "private space, private activities, and private information known to others" clearly include "private life peace" in the scope of privacy protection.
Prior to this, my country's laws did not directly stipulate the concept of "privacy".
However, the new "Civil Code" does not specifically define the scope of "private space".
In Yang Xiao’s view, according to common perceptions, installing cameras in the corridors of residential buildings to monitor residents’ movement in and out of public passages and elevators will restrict residents’ sense of psychological freedom to a certain extent, rather than being repressed or restrained. Living conditions are also an important part of the tranquility of private life, and “shooting private spaces such as other people’s houses” is one of the specific types of infringements on the privacy of others.
Feng Qingming said that the right to privacy as a specific personality right has been widely recognized in judicial practice.
An effective judgment pointed out that the private life of natural persons and the confidentiality of private information are protected in accordance with the law, and others are not allowed to illegally learn, collect, use and intrude.
Residents’ installation of video doorbells is reasonable in protecting their own residential safety, but civil entities are also obliged to protect their own legal rights without harming the legal rights of others, and they must do so between maintaining their residential safety and respecting the privacy of others. Good balance.
Some legal practitioners have proposed that "private life peace" is an important part of the right to privacy, and if a privately installed camera causes discomfort to the neighbors, it should be removed.
Some people think that it is for safety reasons after all, and it is okay to negotiate with the most relevant neighbors before installing the camera.
If there is no reasonable installation location due to house structure restrictions, it can be resolved through consultation with related parties, which is also the basis for building a harmonious neighborhood relationship.
In Yang Xiao's view, if the collected images are leaked due to the collector's reason, and the collector is suspected of infringing on the personal information rights of others, the collector should bear legal responsibility.
If the collected personal information is leaked or illegally used due to product defects, technical failures or hacker attacks, the manufacturer of the product shall bear the product liability, and the installer may also need to bear the corresponding legal liability.
"Aside from the discussion of infringement or not, from a technical point of view, similar products also have multiple risks. Suppliers should also strengthen information security protection." Yang Xiao said that on the one hand, industry supervision needs to be strengthened, and on the other hand, the company is in Before putting products into the market, relevant legal risk assessments should be done, and at the same time, the introduction of product liability insurance mechanisms should be accelerated to effectively protect the rights and interests of consumers.
(From reporters: Lu Huadong, Qin Huajiang)