Scottish Court Awards Damages For CCTV Camera Pointed At Neighbor's House (boingboing.net)
AmiMoJo quotes a report from BoingBoing: Edinburgh's Nahid Akram installed a CCTV system that let him record his downstairs neighbors Debbie and Tony Woolley in their back garden, capturing both images and audio of their private conversations, with a system that had the capacity to record continuously for five days. A Scottish court has ruled that the distress caused by their neighbor's camera entitled the Woolleys to $21,000 (17,000 British Pounds) in damages, without the need for them to demonstrate any actual financial loss. The judgment builds on a 2015 English court ruling against Google for spying on logged out Safari users, where the users were not required to show financial losses to receive compensation for private surveillance.
I can't see how this is anything other than a good thing.
There is a reasonable expectation of privacy on ones own property, and this was recording sound, not just video footage.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Autowin? I think the bit "capturing both images and audio of their private conversations" had a lot to do with it.
There are a few laws about recording conversations without consent.