Is Privacy an Antiquated Notion?!

Is Privacy an Antiquated Notion?!

At work I decided to take a little break and search online for the next topic for this blog. I found an interesting article in a Kansas City newspaper about a young woman who worked in a tattoo parlor. This had me pondering the question, is privacy an antiquated notion ?

She rented the apartment right above where she worked ; the owner of the tattoo parlor, her boss, also owned the apartment. She lived there for a couple of months when she decided to take a little vacation . While she was gone, the landlord / her boss decided that would be a great time to upgrade her bathroom . When she returned, she was presently surprised to find a nice, new bathroom , and also some new smoke detectors in her bedroom and throughout the apartment. A couple of days later, she invited a friend from work over to her apartment, and the friend noticed that the new smoke detectors looked like some of the empty boxes he found in the basement of the tattoo parlor. On those boxes, it said “ hidden camera .” Needless to say, the young woman called police, and after an investigation, they found there were hidden cameras all over her apartment recording her EVERY move!

Well, this got me thinking … how many times has this happened ? How many people are video-taped without knowing it? My guess is, quite a bit . And yes, that thought is really creepy. Privacy is not what it used to be, and real privacy is probably a thing of the past. I thought about all of the young women just graduating from college , getting their own apartments, and never even suspecting that their privacy is in jeopardy ! For that matter, any young person, male or female, has to be vigilant to protect what little privacy they do have.

Here are some security tips from ATP Alarms , ways to detect hidden cameras:

1. Use your eyes – while the camera may be hidden, the lens won’t be. Look for small perfect holes in wallpaper, dry wall, etc. Cameras may also be hidden in plants, teddy bears, tissue boxes, and books, as well as smoke detectors! Open up those items and look for small cameras.
2. Use your Cellphone – you can use your cellphone to place a call and wave it around an item you suspect. If you hear clicking and buzzing noises, it may be due to the electromagnetic field produced by the camera.
3. Purchase a Hidden Camera Detector – you can get them on the internet, and use them to sweep the room for hidden cameras.
4. Be Vigilant – Be on guard for anything out of the ordinary, kind of like the story above. Usually if something is too good to be true (like a bathroom upgrade and smoke detectors you didn’t ask for) then you should be suspicious.
5. Maybe You Should Be Watching Them – putting a camera in your home that YOU can monitor via your cellphone when you aren’t home is a great option. Having the ability to know when someone enters your home, no matter where you live, could prevent these things from happening in the first place. Cameras tied into an alarm system are even better.

Keeping your eyes and ears open can prevent someone from invading your privacy. Owning a home security system where only you or trusted ones have a PIN will be a lot of protection against anyone entering your home. At ATP Alarms we can help you with your specific needs as they pertain to home security, and survey your home for vulnerabilities. Our quotes are always free , call today.

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