According to this “freaky” Best Buy employee, your neighbors can record you with their Ring camera and it’s not illegal.
Best Buy ’employee’ weighs in
“It’s actually not against the law to put this on the side of your house and film your neighbors, like into their homes,” an alleged Best Buy employee says in the clip. “There is no law against that. And the good thing is, the footage from it goes straight to your phone, just uploads directly.”
“Oh interesting,” responds this alleged customer who was actually just looking for video games.
The Best Buy “employee” is TikTok user @goodshirts and they are also the creator of the page where the video is posted. @goodshirts’ page is all about pranks that center a shirt with a witty saying on it. It seems that for this episode, @goodshirts was borrowing a Best Buy employee shirt. It is unconfirmed whether they are a real Best Buy employee or not but it seems that the video was a skit and not a real interaction with a customer.
The video has 4.8 million views as of Saturday, making it obvious that plenty of viewers were alarmed at this information despite it being delivered via a TikTok skit. But was the TikToker telling the truth?
Privacy rules for Ring cameras
There are two sets of federal laws to consider when adding a Ring camera to your home. There are expectations of privacy laws and one-party consent laws, according to Security.Org.
Expectations of privacy laws warn against recording in private places where there is an increased expectation of privacy. Some examples of this include bathrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms, bedrooms, etc. Therefore, while it is legal to record a nearby property, you should not record areas with an increased need for privacy.
One-party consent laws state that you have the right to record phone calls, conversations, and home security footage as long as one person consents. However, some states have all-party consent laws.
The Best Buy “employee’s” point about being able to record into your neighbor’s homes freely is not exactly correct. There are some general areas to avoid and the laws may vary in your state.
The Daily Dot has previously covered similar privacy conversations around Ring cameras. For example, this Airbnb guest covered up the Ring camera on their rental.
Viewers were mostly amused
Viewers seemed amused by the skit and concerned about the possibility of people recording them.
“bro thats my neighbor,” joked one comment.
“Bro was so thrilled to tell you that,” said another.
“He seemed real happy about invading privacy legally!” someone else pointed out.
“My neighbors must’ve known this information,” says another.
“Someone let this man’s neighbors know lol,” another person says
@goodshirts geek squad first round draft pick #cringe #creep #camera #bestbuy #ring #customerservice #comedy #foryou @Garrett McKenna ♬ original sound – Good Shirts
The Daily Dot has reached out to Ring Cameras and Best Buy via email and to @goodshirts via TikTok message and Instagram message.
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