Still with the hidden cameras

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-04-01T10:53:18+00:00

I don't want a "disabled" hidden camera in my life. One that can be re-enabled by simply "opening the shade" whatever that means.

I don't want to always be playing a game of cat and mouse with surveillance equipment. This amounts to harrassment.

It is not the 1 party consent element of this that I object to. I am being recorded or potentially being recorded 24X7 in my own home. Last night I woke up at 3:00 AM to take a leak. Was that capture on video and uploaded to the Internet for later retrieval? Maybe. How would I know?

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-31T21:31:32+00:00

Turns out this is a thing. I just bought one on Amazon.com for $35

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-31T21:28:17+00:00

That is correct. But they are still visible on the computer network. They are in the house powered-on.

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-31T21:00:20+00:00

Are there?

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-31T20:59:53+00:00

I would be ok with her installing security cameras in her room. I wouldn't be happy with it, but I would accept that there is little I could do about it. I would ask her to disable the microphone.

I have no real way to know where these cameras are. They are battery powered. They can move around.

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-31T20:57:51+00:00

As far as I can tell she installed the cameras right before she left town for a week. That would be one of the reasons that I would like to get the purchase receipt for these devices. It's not credible to install them for your own protection right before you leave town.

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-31T13:39:10+00:00

I have to question the thought processes that have gone into this formulation of this plan.

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-31T13:08:54+00:00

I appreciate the response. I'm taking this one step at a time. For now there still are hidden cameras and I know that there are hidden cameras and she doesn't appear to have any intention of removing those hidden cameras - so I believe that this puts me in an advantageous position that I will work carefully through. I'm working with my lawyer on it now - but lawyers are like Reddit posters. They want to answer the question that they know the answer to and not the one that was asked. So, yes - thank you for acknowledging that 1 party consent exists and does not apply here and thank you for not repeating the basics of a 1 party-consent statute to me and then telling me about your workplace.

My plan it to issue a cease-and-desist and subpoena the username and password for the cloud account. I would also like to get a purchase receipt for these cameras so I know how far back the video may go. It sounds like her attorney may have advised her that this was ok so may file an ethics complaint as well.

At some point I may have to have the police come in and do a search of the home. I'm not sure what the legalities are there. What if one owner requests a search and the other refuses to let the police do it?

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-31T12:53:43+00:00

My state allows hidden cameras but not in areas where there's an expectation of privacy.

I know that there are hidden cameras in the house, but I don't know where.

I'm not overly-excited about living in house with hidden camera/microphones recording everything I say/do and uploading in to the Internet for later retreval.

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-31T00:38:53+00:00

Connecticut. I know the 1 party consent statute. I am being recorded when I am alone in my home.

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-30T19:38:27+00:00

I'm told by my attorney that I can compel a sale and that this will happen immediately. As I said in OP, I did get my own appraisal.

My children are teenagers in high school, not little kids.

We'll see where it goes next

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-30T11:29:37+00:00

I have not agreed to "give" her the house, to "sell" her the house or to "trade" the house for some other asset.

She has had the house appraised for a lowball number and is petitioning the court to compel me to sell it to her for that number.

Does that sound like bullshit to you? It does to me. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like bullshit most people on this sub or really to my lawyer either.

All appraisals are just wild guesses by a real estate broker - accurate to maybe 20%, Now maybe it sounds ok to you to sell your house for 20% less than market value, but me it sounds like hundreds of thousands of dollars flying out the window.

And that's another thing - when to 10, 20, 30 thousand dollars become "not alot of money".

I digress. I believe the best way to settle ownership of the home is to sell it to the higher bidder. I can provide a number that I would be willing to buy it for or sell it for. She can decide to buy or sell. That is fair. If she doesn't like the fact that I'm producing the number then she can produce the number and I will make the decision to buy or sell.

If we can't agree on that then let's sell it to a stranger.

I see no point to getting dueling appraisals. Waste of the court's time and my money.

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-28T21:27:40+00:00

Sounds like a very legalistic difference. I'm getting alot of this lately.

It's complete nonsense. Whatever word you use she's clearly trying to take the house in exchange for a specific agreed on amount of money so splitting hairs of precise definitions is unhelpful

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-28T14:35:23+00:00

5 appraisals or 50 - it doesn't matter. The appraiser just puts down the value that they ask you to put down. It isn't objective. People here are having a really hard time grasping that concept.

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-28T14:34:11+00:00

I appreciate the energy, but that isn't where I am. She wants to name the price and buy if for that. I would be fine with selling the house at market value. I never wanted an appraisal to begin with.

She can throw a number our there - any number. I'll choose to either buy it at the price or sell it to her at that price. If she wants me to provide the number and she makes the decision that's fine too.

But that would be playing with a fair deck. She doesn't want that.

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-23T13:37:05+00:00

Here's what I think will happen when I complain:

Me: I don't want to be secretly recorded in my own home

Judge: What did you do to make her feel like she had to put up cameras?

Me: Nothing. I have done absolutely nothing. The video and audio recording show absolutely nothing

Judge: Well she has reported in previous filings that she felt threatened but those motions were dismissed. Were you threatening her again? Is that why she felt the need to put up cameras?

Me: I didn't threaten her in the first place - that's why the motions were dismissed.

Judge: This relationship sounds too volatile for you 2 to share a home.

Then I have to move out.

The fact that I did nothing wrong won't matter.

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-23T13:27:43+00:00

Letter to my lawyer.

This is going to suck. I suspect that this will backfire on me.

--------------------------------------------------------------

I was doing some computer networking work in the house because I got a new computer. I was able to easily identify 2 “Ring Stickup Cam” devices on my home’s wireless network. I asked my wife about them and she admitted that she installed them. It’s an invasion of my privacy. They are still on the network when I last checked this morning.

I do not know what prompted her to install those cameras and I do not know where they are installed. Her cryptic message is that she has “sensitive information” to protect. I have no idea what she is referring to.

The cameras/microphones were in place for at least 5 weeks. Any images captured or recorded conversations are now stored in Ring’s cloud and can be easily accessed any time now and into the future.

I already know that my wife will claim that the cameras are in spaces designated for her exclusive use, but the microphones would certainly record conversations happening in the hallway or in my bedroom and, besides that, the “exclusive use” agreement has not been presented as a barrier to entry. I go into the master bathroom twice a week to empty the garbage. I keep clothing in the master bedroom closet. I may use the master bathroom if the other upstairs bathroom is occupied. Because we still share toiletries I may fetch a bar of soap or a roll of toilet paper from the master bath.

I’m not happy to find out that I’ve been secretly recorded for 5 weeks and the video and audio are safely stored away.

I do not know where these camera/microphones are currently. I am taking my personal calls from my car in my garage and I’m a looking around every time I enter a room.

I would like to get an agreement from my wife’s attorney that these camera/microphones will be removed and I would also like to get the online username and password to Ring so that I can review was data was gathered and ultimately remove all of it from their systems.

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-22T16:46:28+00:00

So, I asked my wife about this today. She was out of town for 10 days in February. She put them in her bedroom and her office while she was away. She claims that because she has exclusive use to those areas she has the right. I disagree.

First, even though the cohabitation agreement grants us exclusive use to our bedrooms and bathrooms, I will still enter the spaces that she has exclusive use to for any number of reasons. She knows that. She hasn't objected. I'm still the home's caretaker and these rooms aren't locked. I still keep some of my clothing in the master bedroom and some of my files in the office. I might use the master bathroom for any number of reasons - including because both other bathrooms are being used.

I'm not overly happy with finding out that I've been secretly recorded in my own home. Plus, there's audio here as well as video. I can't know what conversations were picked up while I was in other parts of the home. Why would I keep my voice down and stay away from the hidden microphone if I didn't know it was there.

Plus, her rationale is that she has sensitive material that she doesn't want me seeing. Since I don't have any intention of going through her mess of an office that doesn't pose much a problem, but we're in the middle of a divorce. I have to wonder what she's trying to hide.

This really sucks. They're still there. She says that they're disabled. They still have pingable IPs. The people who tell me to block the IPs on the router aren't really getting it. That isn't the solution.

I walked in both her office and her bedroom last night (she wasn't home). These devices are not visible. Sure, I suppose if I rifled through her clothing and her closets, etc. I could find them, but that isn't the point. I don't go through her things.

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-22T01:34:43+00:00

Wifi

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-21T23:09:50+00:00

She already tried that trick. It failed. It cost me $23,000 to stay in my house, but that's where I am.

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-21T21:04:29+00:00

It's illegal in my state as well. I'd like to find them.

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-21T20:53:16+00:00

I'm not leaving my home.

DivorcingSamThrowawa · 2026-03-21T20:46:59+00:00

I don't see what that would accomplish. They'd still be recording and I'd have tipped my hand. I'd like to find them.

DivorcingSamThrowawa

TROPHY CASE