But:
> There’s even a clock we hate, hardwired into the wall, pointed directly at the master bedroom shower
That wouldn't survive the night in my house.
It's not necessarily about the former owner being nefarious. If they reset devices before moving, or just abandoned the systems, they could be unpatched/exploitable, or even failing "open" from a security perspective.
Get a screwdriver!
You might find this presentation useful (!PDF!). https://defcon.org/images/defcon-22/dc-22-presentations/Pols...
Privacy is a human right. Best of luck!
This isn't really discussed enough. It's not just an impact on children's development, it's also an impact on adults.
If people think that they're being surveilled (whether or not they really are), that changes how they think and act. They can never really be themselves anymore. That effect is the entire reason that panopticons were invented. It's also a key part of the book "1984".
Personally, I think this means that ubiquitous surveillance is a form of psychological torture. Or, at best, it's a form of psychological manipulation.
It's poison to the very idea of community and society.
Are you suggesting people cannot be themselves when they are being watched through a camera? Wonder what the implications are in the social media era.
> MCLUHAN: And this, I think, has been one of the big effects of the electric age. It has deprived people, really, of their private identity.
> They become alienated from themselves very quickly, and then they seek all sorts of bizarre outlets to establish some sort of identity by put-ons. Show business had been one way of establishing identity by just put-ons. And without the put-on, you're a nobody. And so people are learning show business as an ordinary daily way of survival. It's called role-playing.
https://www.tvo.org/transcript/155847/marshall-mcluhan-in-co...
Yes, this is really well established. Not just through a camera, either. This happens with all kinds of surveillance.
For instance, when people are aware of relatively innocuous things such as software telemetry or that streaming services are paying attention to what you watch, they will use the software or streaming differently than if they aren't aware of it.
The classic example of this is from the days of Neilsen TV ratings. Neilsen families would routinely do things like ensuring that they let their favorite shows play on the TV even if they aren't watching them out of a fear that if they don't, they're increasing the chances that the show will get cancelled.
Or a more modern example: how many people have decided to watch or not watch something on YouTube or other streaming service with an eye toward manipulating the personalized recommendations the service provides?
This is also one of McLuhan's points. If we think we have an audience, our thoughts and actions tend to become performative for that audience rather than authentic.
I grew up like this, and it probably made me more paranoid and prone to rebel against authority. My dad set up security cameras outside and inside the house. I kind of understood the outside cameras, though he only did it after he found out I brought my girlfriend over when they weren't home. The last straw was when he set up a camera behind my desk pointing at my monitor.
I was 16 and already mad I couldn't bring my girlfriend over, but the camera pointing at my desk put me over the edge. So I ssh'd in using the default admin password, rooted it, and rm -rf /*.
Was the existing system a big reason why you bought the house?
Rip it all out and install your own stuff!
I’m a technical person, but the reality is that I’m only 90% sure I successfully transferred access to all of this stuff over to me. For the first couple weeks after moving in, we hadn’t even done that.
I’ve literally never looked at any of it. But knowing the kind of guy he was, there’s a part of me is honestly suspicious of not just the cameras, but also things like certain light fixtures. There’s even a clock we hate, hardwired into the wall, pointed directly at the master bedroom shower.
His potential access aside, I’ve said to my wife before that I don’t want our kids growing up feeling like they’re always being watched. Nefariously or not, even just the feeling of assuming that someone is watching has to have a profound impact on the way you develop.