People taking pictures of your home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have a misunderstanding, I dont have any understanding. That is why is asked. But, this whole thing still has me concerned. Someone walked through the neighborhood, took pictures of private homes and then distributed it to the world. As it happens, it’s a pretty good roadmap to the home of one of the most threatened people in the US. Absent that it’s still troubling but I now understand that it’s permissible.

Again, the outside of your home is not private if it's viewable from a public road. The solution is to shield your home from the road, or move to a gated community. That's why Google Maps doesn't have street view inside of them.

[Anonymous]

It's fine. I have a cute house that went viral on tiktok but no one knows it's mine

[Anonymous]

Our dog got busted on a TikTok of our neighborhood. Our house is on a corner lot and the fence can be only 48 inches high because of traffic sight lines. She sneaks out at every chance.

The TikTok showed our dog sunning herself in the front yard when she was supposed to be on squirrel patrol in the back yard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about the publication aspect? I wish I could find and repost the slide show. I get using public facilities to photograph something in public but what about putting it on the internet? Additionally, what about the issues associated with the high profile people who have security? Is there an exception?

Why wouldn't you be able to post a picture of a house on the internet? The photo is owned by the photographer who took it.

High profile people who have security live behind gates for this reason.

[Anonymous]

I saw someone doing this, but thought they were taking pictures of the trees or a new neighbor as I saw the person walking around my area a few times.

Then they showed up at my door basically saying they wanted to build on my land so they could live in it PT when they are in the area. They knew all kinds of stuff about me, my DH, our home, mortgage, etc. I had taken most of that offline and am not on social media or LinkedIn. My DH is online for work, but no social media. It was so unnerving and crazy to me why you would show up at someone's house like this. My DH looked them up based on the alleged name they gave that I replayed from the cameras and this person had lawsuits. I don't want to get to it on here, but it really shook me.

I have received letters in the mail asking to buy my home with family pictures, etc and I always toss them. I feel that is the right way to go about it as if someone is interested they can contact you back. Don't just look around someones home and pounce when you see them available (as I felt was the situation here).

[Anonymous]

This isn’t that weird to me, and I don’t think you can do anything about it. I’ve lived in three different Victorian rowhomes that have featured on random Instagram accounts and blogs because people thought they were pretty/historic. Once I surprised a photographer by opening the door while he setting up a shot; he told me that the home (which I was renting at the time) was the perfect example of a particular architectural style. And then the first place I owned was a condo in a distinctive historic building and someone won an award for their photo of it. I follow a lot of photography and history accounts and was amazed to see first place prize going to a picture of my place! I thought the photographer should at least give me a copy, lol.

[Anonymous]

I take pictures of swann st in the fall. I love that street.

[Anonymous]

This has happened to us a couple of times in the last 3-4 weeks. We are tucked away in a cul-de-sac. I happened to be standing by the window looking out and the car was slowly driving around the circle, and then stopped in front of our driveaway. I thought it was a delivery, but then noticed the back passenger window was down and the young girl was either taking a video or photos of our house.

It does concern me, our house can't help real estate agents with the local comparables as it is a new built. There is nothing historically remarkable about the house, typical Classic homes house.
What other reasons could there be?

[Anonymous]

Your house is already on Google maps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has happened to us a couple of times in the last 3-4 weeks. We are tucked away in a cul-de-sac. I happened to be standing by the window looking out and the car was slowly driving around the circle, and then stopped in front of our driveaway. I thought it was a delivery, but then noticed the back passenger window was down and the young girl was either taking a video or photos of our house.

It does concern me, our house can't help real estate agents with the local comparables as it is a new built. There is nothing historically remarkable about the house, typical Classic homes house.
What other reasons could there be?

Why, specifically, does it concern you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your house is already on Google maps.

My understanding is that Google will remove one's house on request from the homeowner.

[Anonymous]

Nope, public photography is protected by the first amendment.

[Anonymous]

I used to live in a tourist area, near a stop for some smaller cruise ships. Soooo many people would get off the cruise, spend an hour wandering around town taking pictures of our houses, and then leave. Some of those photos ended up in advertisements, reviews, or other online publications. Like "4 stars for this cruise, look at the pretty houses we saw in X-town! Just a few blocks from port!".

Annoying, but perfectly legal. And honestly not even close to the most annoying thing the tourists did. I'm happy to not live in a place like that anymore (and I have a lifelong aversion to cruises as a result!).

[Anonymous]

I suppose you could cover your home in a shroud. Taking photos of anything plainly visible in a public space is legal, and unless the photographers are trespassing there is nothing you can do about what you've described to enjoin it.

[Anonymous]

If you are a prosecutor or judge, I'm sure there's a way to take those pictures of your house down.