security big brother style

[SAS]

There's a situation in my house at the moment, which I share with 6 people.

I live in the top floor flat, where the rest of the housemates have their own rooms and share the kitchen, bathroom e.t.c.

Recently someone has been leaving the front door wide open each morning (around 4am). Two of the guys downstairs are sure it's the new housemate who recently moved in and is a tad odd. You hardly see her and she sits in her room never making a sound.

However I've grown suspicious of these two who constantly tell me about the door being opened and wait for me to return home eagerly reporting the latest door opening event. Since the new housemate has moved in they have been on a mission to get rid of her and if she is leaving the door opened the landlord could make her leave.

BUT theres no evidence apart from the door opening has only started since she joined the house. I'm not convinced its her so I'm planning on setting up a mini camera somewhere to record either her door (which is next to my flat door so I say its setup for my security) OR the front door in some way.

The question is how easy is this to do on a shoe string budget? The camera needs to be small enough so noone knows its there. Also is it legal?

Any help would be apperciated.

 

[Will]

It isn't legal without a warning that you are being filmed, afaik.

I'm pretty sure you can do this with a cheap webcam, I think WPKenny has one of these already.

 

[Tom]

It isn't legal without a warning that you are being filmed, afaik.

I'm pretty sure you can do this with a cheap webcam, I think WPKenny has one of these already.

Get the permission of the landlord, then you can film whatever you like.

If you're filming from public land, you don't need anybody's permission full stop, so if the camera is outside the building (say at a friendly neighbour's window) you're ok.

Webcam is the best bet. Can you provide us with piccies showing all angles in the hall? Then we can advise on a position, although tbh it may be easy to just put it in a bag in the hallway, disguised. You could also do a similar thing with a domestic digital camera/camcorder, some of them have time lapse settings.

Actually, if you set it up at a neighbour's window, zoomed onto your door, could you not wi-fi it across to your pc and record it or something?

 

[Chilly]

use a mirror and record from your room if you have the angle? set up soem motion-trigger software so you dont use gigs and gigs of space recroding worms doing the walltz

and bollocks to permission, its not as if its for a criminal trial or anything, and as the door is fronting (I assume) onto the street then anyone could see it anyway so people are not going to be caugt doing naughty things in public unless they dont care, win win.

 

[mank!]

why don't you ask them?

 

[tankgirl_ni]

i have the same problem. i live in a shared building of 3 appartments and i live on the top floor. the guy downstairs is a raving loonie who makes *thud thud whack groan* noises at stupid o'clock in the morning and constantly has a bunch of his creepy lookin pals wondering about. One of which I caught hoaking through the mail in the hallway! no wonder so many people's bank statements were going missing.

and the people on the bottom floor seem to think that its perfectly save to leave the main building door open all night as well as their apartment door. i dont have a problem with them leaving their internal door open if thats what they wanna do but its not on leaving the big main door wide open. as if being in belfast wasnt bad enough we're right in the middle of the Holylands (an area heavily populated by culchie student scumbags) click this link!- indymedia news I have spoke to them but to no avail, it seems to be force of habbit to them now.

 

[throdgrain]

The Holylands is one of the only neutral working class housing executive areas available to mixed religion working class families

Blimey I sympathise for you having to live there at all to be honest, it must be like living bloody Baghdad or something

 

[Krazeh]

Get the permission of the landlord, then you can film whatever you like.

If you're filming from public land, you don't need anybody's permission full stop, so if the camera is outside the building (say at a friendly neighbour's window) you're ok.

Webcam is the best bet. Can you provide us with piccies showing all angles in the hall? Then we can advise on a position, although tbh it may be easy to just put it in a bag in the hallway, disguised. You could also do a similar thing with a domestic digital camera/camcorder, some of them have time lapse settings.

Actually, if you set it up at a neighbour's window, zoomed onto your door, could you not wi-fi it across to your pc and record it or something?

On what grounds would you need the permission of the landlord? Whether or not you need permission is unlikely to change regardless of the positioning of the camera.

 

[Tom]

It does actually. Its perfectly legal to film whatever you like wherever you like, so long as its on public property.

This is a privately-owned dwelling, and thus you can't just start filming your flatmates without prior permission from the owner.

 

[Krazeh]

On what legal grounds do you need to obtain the consent of the landlord and noone elses?

 

[Tom]

I think I'm repeating myself. The house is not public property, its private - and to film you need the owner's permission.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Tom is right.

 

[tankgirl_ni]

Blimey I sympathise for you having to live there at all to be honest, it must be like living bloody Baghdad or something

when the students arnt there its perfect! there's no union jacks or tricolors and there's no marches or secterian noncence.. its a really nice place to live.. and then september comes and it all goes buck daft again.