Would you let a perfect stranger into your house to watch your baby sleep? How about to listen to every word you say? The answer is probably no, but parents maybe doing that right now with something that is supposed to make you feel safer, your baby monitor. What you are about to learn about, the criminals already know. We felt it was important to show you, so that you are aware of who is watching your baby.
With a look of disbelief, Ginger stared at the screen of the portable baby monitor we had in our news car. The car was out in the middle of the street, more than 100 feet away from her house. But clear as day, she knew exactly what she was seeing and hearing. Surprised she simple said, "It looks like the baby's crib."
Providing a crystal clear picture and crisp audio is exactly what video baby monitors are supposed to do. In the process, they are giving a growing number of parents the reassurance that their child is safe and sound tucked in their cribs. But what these parents didn't sign up for was just how far images of their baby's crib, and all of the voices from nearby rooms, would go beyond their own homes.
Armed with a basic video baby monitor I bought at Toy's R Us, I got into a news car and just started to drive around. It didn't take long before I picked up Ginger's video feed. After knocking on a few homes, I was able to determine which home the images were coming from. I brought Ginger out to the car, and showed her what I could see. When I told her that I was actually able to pick up flickering images more than half a mile away, she said she had no idea that was possible. While realizing what anyone could see, she said, "I would be nervous that someone might come and try to get the baby that just bothers me."
And for Ginger, it gets worse. While we were standing out in the street, the baby started to coo in the crib. It came through loud and clear on the monitor's speaker. If you can hear the baby, you can hear a lot of other things going on in the house. Ginger realized, "Yes it does bother me to know that someone could be hearing the whole conversation in your house.
So just how many baby monitor signals are "floating" out there for anyone to see? I was shocked with what I found. In matter of about 6 blocks in downtown Traverse City, I picked up at least 4 different crib signals. Some of these signals I was able to pick up for three or four blocks. It took about 20 minutes to see inside at least 4 different homes, to see where their babies were, and hear exactly what was going on inside. I then drove out to several sub divisions, and sure enough, more monitors, more cribs and more parents that we were able to warn about just how far their signals were being transmitted.
Not every parent was surprised when we showed them what all of their neighbors could see. When we brought Mary out to our news car, she looked in the monitor and almost with a smile said, "That's his crib, Gentry's crib." I asked if she was surprised that how far away we were able to pick up her signal and I was the one surprised by her answer. She said "No, do you want to know why?" I sure did. Mary took me inside the nursery and explained that, with a flip of a switch on *her* monitor she can see her neighbors baby's crib! She explained "We discovered that our neighbors had their new baby, because on channel B we flipped ours over and we saw the baby and it wasn't our crib."
So what as parents can we do? Jason Gillman makes a living selling surveillance equipment, pretty high tech stuff compared to the $100 dollar system we bought. He explained when it comes to baby monitors, "most of these systems are not really complicated. Most are still analog and are in the old technology of RF frequency."
But even old technology can bounce around, and be picked up a lot further than the 350 feet advertised on the box. According to Gillman, "in urban areas you are going to have a little bit more happening there, because you have neighbors close together. There might be some people watching your camera when you are not expecting it."
Gillman's advice if you're truly concerned, you might want to upgrade. Gillman says you are probably not going to have much luck with standard video baby monitors you can buy in most stores. They are all pretty similar in how they work and the security settings they have. Instead Gillman says if you are concerned if someone is watching you, "at the very least you should try to wire, hardwire your camera."
Using a hardwired camera eliminates the possibility of someone else seeing your images. While a camera and monitor may cost you around $200 dollars, installation to hide the wires (that run from the camera to the monitor) can get expensive, and this type of system isn't portable from one room to another.
A second option gives you that wireless portability without loosing security. As Gillman explains, "some IP cameras, even some inexpensive IP camera that will work with most routers." An IP camera uses an encrypted signal that only you can see. It takes a little "techie" set up, but it doesn't take much cash. Gillman says "anywhere from 100 to 200 you can get a fairly decent single camera that you can have a program with that will work with your computer."
So as parents we have options. What's the easiest thing you can do without spending a dime? Turn off the camera when it's not in use, not just the monitor, but the actual camera that is transmitting the signal.
While that won't keep someone from seeing your baby in the crib, chances are it will reduce the number of daily conversations you are transmitting when the crib (and therefore the camera) is not in use. It will also make harder if someone is actually looking for a signal to watch.
Again, we want to stress, we felt this was an important message to get out to parents so that you are aware of what images and sounds maybe leaving your house, so that you know who is watching the baby.
