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There is a whole new world of baby cams that, for free, host the feed online for you to access anywhere. You simply create an account on their hosting site and you get access to the live camera feed of all the baby cams in your house.

There is barely a legal document in sight for these things, and (especially with regards to Chinese equipment) the feed is almost certainly being recorded somewhere permanently.

There might be breaches to this data and it might end up public in some way. There are laws in countries like China that all the data must be available for the government. There is a not-unreasonable chance that someone somewhere will watch some of the videos.

Therefore this makes for an interesting question about tzniut - is one obligated therefore to not get dressed in front of these cameras? If a married woman sometimes uncovers her hair in her own house, should she make sure not to do so in front of the cameras? Other questions akin to this. If it's not a halacha is it a midda chassidus/yirei shamayim? (sounds funny asking that given that covering one's hair even in complete private is considered a midat yerei shamayim, if not an outright halacha)

Given that this is a) unlikely and b) something that is technically happening "in the back of the tent" rather than in a place obviously visible to the "public road", maybe there is no issue.

There might also be a problem of hezek riya? Not sure how to formulate it but I've added a tag for it in case anyone wants to deal with that as well. I will probably ask that as a separate question if a line of thought develops on it.

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    The victim is not liable in the case of rape.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Apr 27, 2023 at 11:10
  • @DoubleAA that turns over in my head in 2 ways. Either a statement that how tznius one is does not come into question in cases of rape (i.e. someone is NOT to be considered some level of culpable for having been untznius chas veshalom), or your are likening someone spying on someone to rape. In either case, or if it is something else could you clarify?
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented Apr 27, 2023 at 11:50
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    If you are following all the rules and someone breaks the rules and does something wrong it's not your fault. Eg. someone breaks into your house steals your food and doesn't say a blessing when he eats it on yom kippur.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Apr 28, 2023 at 14:31
  • @DoubleAA Assuming the companies are doing something wrong by accessing your data (although that doesn't cover the case of data breaches) I'm wondering though about something akin to a p'sik reisha. If I know it is highly likely that they will use the cameras to look in my private home, am I allowed to bring them in in the first place? And if I do, should I avoid being naked in front of them?
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented Apr 28, 2023 at 14:36
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    @RabbiKaii your data is not guaranteed to be mis-used; therefore it is not a p'sik reisha. What the likelihood of it being leaked is isn't something anyone knows for sure. Most people would like to think it's very unlikely, probably it's significantly more likely than that, but nowhere near certain.
    – Esther
    Commented May 2, 2023 at 15:21

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https://www.yeshiva.co/ask/59434 according to this Q&A, it seems the general Halacha is, when you are pretty easily seen by other people (such as through a clear window in a region with people nearby), Tznius should be upheld, but if it’s only going to be small periods of time (because you aren’t completely visible during the feed and presumably moving), this wouldn’t be long enough sight for others to focus on you for tzniut to be an issue. If you or your partner want to ask about a specific set up, check your local orthodox rabbi. Finally, as the article says "if an outsider must make a significant and conscious effort to "peak" in... then that's his problem, and you need not inconvenience yourself.,” so this even if you are clearly seen there is a case to be lenient since you’re not responsible for what other people do with your image

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    I think this misses the most relevant part of that link, that "if an outsider must make a significant and conscious effort to "peak" in... then that's his problem, and you need not inconvenience yourself."
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Nov 29, 2023 at 19:01

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