Have you rented Aibnb type accommodation for a weekend or vacation? Take the time to inspect it to see if there is a hidden camera spying on you.
The sunny days are coming and the many public holidays looming on the horizon are a great invitation to get some fresh air. You might as well take advantage of this to have a little weekend in a rental house or apartment offered on a platform like AirBnB, Booking or Abritel! What can dampen your enthusiasm: cases of espionage (and voyeurism) which regularly arise in the media.
In fact, travelers complain of having discovered that the owner of the accommodation was filming them without their knowledge using cameras hidden in spaces such as the bathroom or bedroom. These cameras nestled in clock radios, wireless speakers, smoke detectors, etc. filmed them in their privacy. To avoid this phenomenon, AirBnB has imposed since 1er April the ban on all security cameras in rentals, whether visible and indicated or not, and regardless of the room concerned. A reassuring measure but difficult to apply. Also, if you have doubts, there are tips to check that your rental is not under surveillance.
First reflex, plunge the suspicious room into darkness and trigger your smartphone camera. Scan the space and watch for a fairly bright purple glow on the screen. In fact, cameras that have a motion sensor or are capable of filming in the dark emit an infrared beam invisible to the naked eye (like the signal from a remote control). If such a light appears on the screen, it is probably coming from a camera.
Another tip, use an app like Fing available on Android and iOS. It scans the local Wi-Fi network and detects all devices connected to the network. If a spy camera films and broadcasts the video live over the Internet, it will be unmasked. This tip unfortunately does not work if the camera simply records the videos on a memory card that its owner recovers later.
If you detect a camera in your rental and it has not been mentioned by the owner, report the rental platform immediately. Filing a complaint at the police station or gendarmerie for invasion of privacy is also recommended.