Several reports have revealed that what seems like home decor could have spy cameras concealed in them. Some recording devices have been built into common items like clothes hooks, which you normally wouldn't worry about since it's just something to hang your clothes or towels on.
Amazon offers different home decor items with hidden cameras
Searching on the Amazon website brings up different variations of hidden cameras built into clothes hooks, with many of the products described as being for "security, anti-theft and evidence collection" purposes.
But despite one firm already being sued over the gadgets, there are dozens of different spy cameras still available for sale on Amazon.
For example, searching for "clothes hook camera" on the major online shopping website brings up at least five different items fitted with cameras. These include:
- A wall clock hidden spy camera that was allegedly designed for "home and office security." The item is a two-in-one wall clock and a nanny camera. The lens is hidden in a secret place. Since the item looks like a wall clock, it will be difficult to find and no one will pay attention to it.
- An alarm clock hidden spy camera that was "ingeniously designed to be completely concealed." The item can be used to monitor "your home or office without anyone noticing."
- A USB charger hidden spy camera that "looks like a standard USB hub charger." The item can also be used to connect several charging ports to charge different devices at the same time. The item will allegedly "not attract anyone’s attention during the recording process."
- A smoke detector hidden spy camera that was described as a 4K home security smoke detector camera with an "invisible lens" with motion detection and night vision. The item can be mounted on the wall or ceiling and it can record without attraction.
Other items on Amazon with hidden cameras include pens. (Related: Amazon begins testing drone delivery of medications in Texas.)
According to a privacy expert, the misuse of these types of devices may break British laws.
Jaya Handa, a privacy partner at the law firm Pinsent Masons, explained that with the expectation of privacy within the home, people "could be committing a crime under several other legal frameworks including harassment, child protection, voyeurism, sexual offenses or human rights laws."
Handa added that if the videos were broadly shared, there could also be data protection issues.
Several incidents involved spy cameras from Amazon
In November, one man found "a creepy webcam" hidden in a sofa at an Airbnb.
Ian Timbrell, a 41-year-old former deputy head teacher who now trains schools in LGBTQ+ inclusion, also found the property infested with flies after returning from a night out. While he received a full refund from Airbnb for the fly problem, he reported that he did not hear anything about the camera even though he sent Airbnb the information.
While cameras are allowed in Airbnbs, the company's own online guidelines list several rules for having them on a property.
According to the Airbnb website, to "help provide hosts and guests with peace of mind, security measures, such as security cameras and noise-monitoring devices, are allowed as long as they are clearly disclosed in the listing description and don’t infringe on another person’s privacy."
Under the subheading "what we do allow," it says that "Devices that allow for viewing or monitoring of only a public space (e.g. a front door or a driveway) or a common space that are clearly identified and disclosed ahead of a reservation are permitted. Common spaces do not include sleeping areas or bathrooms."
A judge in the U.S. has ruled that Amazon will be taken to court after one woman claimed that she was secretly filmed in a bathroom by a clothes hook camera bought on the online shopping website.
The woman said that while she was staying at a home in West Virginia as an exchange student, she noticed the host’s motion-activated spy camera in August 2021. She claimed that she was a child at the time.
The man accused of recording her is facing trial. The woman's complaint to a U.S. District Court says Amazon "approved the camera for sale" and "approved the camera’s product description."
According to her complaint, the description "shows the camera serving as a towel hook with the caption: 'It won’t attract any attention. A very ordinary hook.'"
The complaint also claimed that the use of the camera was "foreseeable to Amazon" and seeks punitive damages against Amazon Inc., Amazon.com Services LLC and other unnamed defendants.
Last July 2023, Amazon was forced to pay a $29 million settlement for privacy violations over Ring doorbell cameras and Alexa devices.
A former Amazon employee on the company's Ring doorbell camera unit spied on female customers for months in 2017 using cameras placed in bedrooms and bathrooms. In a court filing, the Federal Trade Commission announced a $5.8 million settlement with Amazon over the privacy violations.
According to a court filing in federal court in Seattle that outlined a separate settlement, the company also agreed to pay $25 million to settle allegations that it violated children’s privacy rights when it failed to delete Alexa recordings at the request of parents and kept them longer than necessary.
Visit Surveillance.news to learn more about other products being used to spy on people illegally.
Watch the video below to learn more about Amazon Astro, a personal surveillance robot.
This video is from the TowardsTheLight channel on Brighteon.com.
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Amazon illegally harvested kids’ data via Alexa-powered ‘smart’ speakers.
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