Installing surveillance at the garage entrance requires respect for neighbors' privacy.
[2] Compiled from: Shandong High Court
Installing surveillance is meant for safety, but it may inadvertently infringe on others' privacy. Do you know that in the "transitional space" between public and private, rights and obligations also exist? Let's take a look at the following case.
Case review
Li and Zhang are neighbors in the same apartment building, with their garages adjacent. In March 2022, Zhang installed two 360-degree panoramic surveillance cameras on the walls on both sides of his garage entrance. Li believed that these cameras could capture his activities when entering and exiting the garage as well as his daily life, infringing on his right to privacy. He repeatedly asked Zhang to remove them, but Zhang firmly refused. With no other option, Li sued Zhang in court, requesting that the court mediate or order the removal of the two cameras. Zhang argued that the area in front of his garage was a blind spot in the community’s surveillance system, and he installed the two cameras to protect his property, without infringing on Li’s exclusive space or personal privacy. Therefore, he requested the court to dismiss Li’s claim.
Civil Code of the People's Republic of China
Article 288
Neighboring right holders of immovable property shall properly handle neighboring relations in accordance with the principles of facilitating production, making life convenient, promoting unity and mutual assistance, and ensuring fairness and reasonableness.
Article 1032
Natural persons enjoy the right to privacy. No organization or individual may infringe upon others’ right to privacy by means of prying, intrusion, disclosure, or publicizing. Privacy refers to a natural person’s peace in private life and the private spaces, private activities, and private information that they do not wish to be known by others.
[1] Court Opinion
In this case, the surveillance cameras installed by the defendant Zhang on the walls on both sides of his garage entrance, especially the camera adjacent to the plaintiff’s garage, captured the area that the plaintiff and his family must pass through when entering and exiting the garage. This could collect the whereabouts and trajectories of the plaintiff and his relatives and friends when coming and going from the garage, making the plaintiff feel that his daily comings and goings were under surveillance and that his private life was in an unsafe state. That is, Zhang’s installation of the cameras exceeded a reasonable scope, leaving others’ privacy in a state of potential exposure at any time, constituting an infringement on others’ privacy. He should bear the legal responsibility of removing the camera devices. However, after a court on-site inspection, it was found that among the two cameras installed by Zhang, the one not adjacent to Li’s garage mainly monitored the area in front of Zhang’s garage door, which was farther from Li’s garage and had a lesser impact on Li. Therefore, the court ordered Zhang to remove the camera adjacent to Li’s garage, while the other camera did not need to be removed.
After the judgment, the plaintiff appealed, requesting the removal of the other camera installed on the wall not adjacent to his garage. The court of second instance, after trial, rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment.
[1] The author's perspective
Modern people's demand for cars is increasing, leading to more parking spaces and garages. However, in these "transitional spaces" between public and private areas, citizens also enjoy privacy rights. Therefore, individuals installing surveillance cameras must be very cautious; improper setup may infringe on others' privacy, involving not only portrait rights and personal privacy but also potential issues of collecting personal information, which could lead to litigation. To maintain good neighborly relations, one should fully communicate with neighbors before installing surveillance equipment to avoid unnecessary disputes.
