Forget Big Brother - it's time to worry about Little Brother

I'm not saying that it's right, it isn't, but the reality is that when you park on a city street your vehicle is likely to get some dings and scratches. I've had to give the "look" several times (a technique perfected from teaching) to people who felt free to sit or lean upon my car. Where I used to live, a neighbor was kind enough to knock on my door to tell me a kid was peeing on my tire. Thankfully, I just had an old Saturn at the time. Parking in Allston was the worst - worse than anywhere in NYC. I think it has the highest concentration of drivers who can't parallel park without smashing into stuff.

I think anyone would be in their right to video or photograph a public street or sidewalk, though. There's no expectation of privacy, there.

I have no problem with personal cameras looking outside at your personal property. It looks like maybe this is a private parking spot as well? If its looking at public space and personal property that belongs to, or is occupied by him I dont see the harm. Its when people set up cameras looking in places they shouldnt, even if they are in public (ie trained on a public pool , or a beach etc, thats creepy) or when the government has control of the cameras and it infringes on your privacy because they can follow you (like in London, they can follow you for miles if they really wanted to.)

If the guy wants a little peace of mind let him be, jeez.

I have a few hi-resolution webcams pointed at various places on my property. They are not only useful, but fun to manage as well. I have already caught the neighbor letting their dog crap on my lawn a few times and have since spoken to them about it. Haven't stepped in a single turd since. I also now know that a couple kids on my street enjoy skateboarding on my walkway when people aren't home. This solved the mystery as to why my railings were getting destroyed. I am planning my deterrent strategy to implement this spring.

My cameras are trained on my property, but inevitably other homes on my street are in the frame. A few weeks back when my camera network was down, an elderly couple two doors down had their house burglarized during the day. Perhaps if my cameras were on that afternoon I would've caught something? We will never know.

Depending on the setup, this single camera trained on the car *could* catch someone in the act. With certain alerts and parameters set and fine-tuned, you might be alerted to a crime in progress. Better than no camera, I'd say.

I would have loved to have had a camera on my car the night someone stole the driver's side mirror off of it! Even better would have been filming the night my neighbor's car was stolen out of our shared parking lot in JP! It is definitely something I have considered.