Ring Doorbells

[niemeyjt]

Ring doorbells - the ones with cameras - facing the street.

Are they legal in France?

J

[ajm]

Verisure advertise all sorts of security systems including external cameras so it looks like they are legal.

[Hotrodder]

I just Googled Ring video doorbells and found they are not loved by everyone. Lots of links.
https://www.makeuseof.com/why-you-shoul ... -doorbell/

[niemeyjt]

I have heard many reports of people complaining of being "spied on" by both Ring doorbells and other video cameras.

I thought French privacy laws had something to say on such situations.

My daughter caught a porch pirate on hers - of course the useless Met did nothing - and we saw the same guy later obviously on the hunt for more booty.

[ajm]

I didn't realise that Ring is a brand

[DaveW]

I have a combination of Ring alarms in the house and Blink cameras outside/inside working with Alexa. They are all sold through Amazon so I can only assume they are legal. If you pointed a camera at your neighbours place on a permanent basis I would imagine they could complain, rightly so.

[Blaze]

You are allowed to have a surveillance camera but I'm pretty sure only to survey your own property, not anyone else's.
I think also you have to be careful not to photograph the street if you live in a town/village.
Some friends have a surveillance camera on the front of their house. There was a bad accident on the road outside and there were questions as to whether they were allowed to film the actual road. I can't remember if they had any useful footage for the police.

[exile]

I thought that as well as not peering into neighbours' properties, you were not allowed to cover public places - such as the street.

[DaveW]

There are reasonable restrictions on the use of drones and videos/photos they take, though how it’s monitored must be a nightmare.

When I had my place up for sale the photographer launched a drone and took pictures from above but had to be very careful to photoshop out neighbours property.

[RobertArthur]

For me it's not crystal clear where the exact boundary is between the private sphere and the public sphere.

Laws, regs, always room for interpretation and market opportunities reading this summary by the official French privacy watchdog CNIL.

Quote:

Private individuals can install cameras in their homes to ensure security. These devices are not subject to personal data protection rules only if they are limited to the strictly private sphere. In all cases, they must respect the privacy of neighbours, visitors and passers-by.