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What to do about my roommate's surveillance camera?

  • I'm currently living in a small apartment with two bedrooms and one roommate. My roommate has exhibited some odd behavior in the past, but in the last week things have gotten weird. Help me negotiate this situation. Details inside. I've lived with this guy at this apartment for a little over a year, plus a year in our university's dorms. We've never been great friends, but we generally got along pretty well until last summer. I don't know what happened, but things got pretty passive aggressive for awhile. I was annoyed that he never cleaned anything, we had a bit of a falling out, and we really have only interacted sporadically since then. He spends most of his time holed up in his room, so we don't see much of each other. He's always come across as a bit paranoid. Last summer he purchased a massive safe (think Italian Job-size), and he habitually locks the door with the hotel lock when I'm out late on weekends. This has been frustrating, as I'll arrive back at my apartment early in the morning and be unable to get inside. Fast forward to this week. I noticed something funny about our internet the other day. His router usually broadcasts two bands, a 2.4GHz and a 5GHz. The 5GHz is obviously much faster, and was my default network. It stopped showing up a few days ago. I asked him about it, and he gave an evasive answer about how everything looked fine to him. Then, I noticed a new network named "[hisname]CAMERA." Weird, I thought. The same day, I had to run into his room to grab a new roll of paper towels, and while I was leaving, a small light caught my eye. Further inspection revealed that he had installed a surveillance camera in his bedroom. I found this very strange. In the year that we've lived here, there haven't been any break-ins in any apartments. Furthermore, it appears that he has locked up the 5GHz network just for use by his camera, leaving me with ridiculously slow internet. (Side note: I also have some concerns that he might be monitoring my internet usage, but I'm working on handling that separately.) This morning, I woke up, walked out of my room, and noticed that his door was open down the hallway. His door is never open unless he's home. Then I saw that he had moved the surveillance camera and it was now pointing down the hallway directly at my door, though still mounted in his room. This freaked me out. I shut his door immediately. What would you do about this? Quite honestly, I don't feel very safe. In the last few months, I've started locking my bedroom door at night. I'd really like to feel comfortable in my apartment.

  • Answer:

    Move.

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"Hey, roommate? We need to talk about this surveillance camera. For one thing, I don't feel comfortable with it pointed at my door. Is there a reason you have it set up that way? Also, this camera is hogging all the bandwidth. Since we pay equally for internet access, you're going to have to either find a less data-intense setup or get rid of the camera. Also please stop locking me out of the apartment." In other words, I don't really understand why you haven't brought any of this stuff up with your roommate. Though I agree with the consensus that you could always move. It really depends on what you want in this situation -- faster internet and a camera not pointed at your room, or to not live with this guy.

Sara C.

Maybe the dude doesn't trust you. Which seems pretty darned mutual. I don't doubt this is a drag for you, but this just seems like some assorted bits of various weird behavior (and everyone has SOME weird shit, at least in my experience) that you're assembling into something bigger. The hotel bar/door chain thing? That would irritate the shit out of me, but that's reflective of how low a priority that sort of thing is for me. My wife throws the bolt on our door just by default. Doesn't matter that I'm walking in and out on a weekend day; she's wired to secure things. Irritates the shit out of me and it's massively inconvenient. But it's not about trying to keep me out, it's her default security mindset. The safe? Who the hell knows. Seems weird to me too. But maybe he just always wanted a big crazy-ass Scrooge McDuck safe. Maybe he has some large things he really cares about that he wants to secure. The camera? Wireless cameras are fun to goof with. Or maybe it's all revolving around not trusting you and fucking with your head. But from out here, reading your description? Sounds like two people who don't really get along, don't know anything about each other's lives, don't communicate. He could be locking you out on purpose or just have no idea about your comings and goings. He could be pointing the camera out of mistrust of you or it could have nothing to do with you. Changing around the network could be something he did while goofing with his toy and he didn't think it would matter to you at all or maybe he didn't even understand what he was doing. Maybe he really is feeling unsafe and insecure but it's because he's reading the wrong newspapers and it has nothing to do with you. I guess I'd be less likely to view this as totally uncertain without this internet thing. You think he's monitoring your internet usage? Based on.... what? A switch from http://compnetworking.about.com/od/wirelessfaqs/f/5ghz-gear.htm- it's unlikely you're getting 54mb from your provider anyway, much less twice that. I don't doubt you want to be comfortable in your own home; I bet your roommate feels the same way, thus why he "spends most of his time holed up in his room" where he doesn't have to interact with you. You two either need to fix this communications & trust problem or not be sharing space. You SURE should not be storing communal property like paper towels in each other's private spaces given this level of conflict. Talk it out or move. This minimal contact thing is clearly not working for you.

phearlez

Try your landlord! I'd skip talking to your housemate any more about this. Maybe tell your landlord the truth - that your roommate is showing symptoms of paranoia and poor mental health, and/or your roommate is up to something that actually merits this degree of security. That would be worse, IMHO. Poor mental health is the good scenario here.

BrunoLatourFanclub

You did notice the camera because you were in his room. Maybe he's just supremely passive aggressive and the camera pointed at the door means "stay out of my room." Safes and security cameras are weird but not necessarily super weird. It's a huge market and I know a number of harmless weirdos who love messing around with that stuff. The bigger issue here is that you and your roommate have really bad communication issues. You can either work on communication or move out.

BabeTheBlueOX

Inquire with your landlord if s/he possibly has a 1br that your lease could be transitioned to. Definitely bring up that your roommate is scaring you, and they're locking you out of the apartment. Inquire on getting the landlord to insist to the roommate that the "hotel lock" be removed. If you're locked out via the hotel lock, keep knocking loud - wake him up - inconvenience him. And then take that lock off the door. Ideally let your roommate know about this plan before it has a chance to happen again. Give your roommate the lock after it's off; suggest he put it on his bedroom door. You're going into his room while he's not there? WTF? I'm assuming that you both are OK with this (re: to get paper towels), but if he's setting up webcams, etc maybe he's really not all right with this. Work out some method of storage of common things so you never need to go in his room, and he never goes into yours. Good fences make good neighbors, and good doors (possibly with keyed locks) make good roommates. Definitely address the webcam - it should not be recording the common spaces unless you have agreed to it. I'd also suggest checking for wireless camera's in the common spaces that you might not have seen. At this point, even if I didn't see the camera, close his door anytime it's open and he's not around. Suggest to your roommmate what you feel it's unfair that part of the network is dedicated for his webcam(s), and potential monitoring of the internet. Suggest that you should only pay 25% (or what you feel is fair) of the total bill unless the restrictions are lifted, and you have full admin rights on any network equipment. Regardless, sign up for a VPN service (I use privateinternetaccess.com) and use this at home.

nobeagle

His behavior is grounds for breaking the lease, but only if you can show what's going on. Document. Photograph the camera, document the lockouts, email it to yourself using https: connections. Talk to Roomie: I'm concerned about you. The camera is an invasion of my privacy, you consistently lock me out. What's going on? How can we resolve this and still be friends? Talk to Roomie's family, explain that his behavior is increasingly difficult, and that you are concerned. Landlord may want Roomie to move, but you may be able to persuade Landlord that Roomie is a better long-term tenant, as you will be leaving. It gets recommended a lot, for good reason. The http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0440226198/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/ of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gift_of_Fear. Your instincts are telling you the guy is unsafe, you need to assess the risk, and take appropriate action.

theora55

There's some good advice above. Also, he should remove the hotel bar lock. It's not acceptable for him to lock you out of your own home. He can put it on his bedroom door if he wants to (as long as the landlord is OK with him drilling into the door/frame).

quince

AFTER you've moved... and IF you're feeling benevolent... you could give his parents or campus services a heads up about this behavior so they can get him some help. But move out first. Lie if ya gotta. Twist arms. Play up the helpless scared angle. Couch surf in the interim. There is nothing tying you here but your own mind right now.

St. Peepsburg

Also, try to communicate with your roommate via email so that everything is documented.

futz

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