Friday, May 4, 2012

In The News: Baby Monitors Allowing Video Access To Your Kids

I was laying in bed last night reading the news on the mobile app of my iPhone and came across a story by a local station that made me sit straight up in bed. It was about the dangers of using video baby monitors. Apparently, the monitors can pick up the feed of another monitor in close proximity, essentially allowing other people to see your child in your home! The original news story can be found here .

One woman reported how she saw two arms reaching into (what she thought was) her child's crib and panicked, ran into the room, thinking that someone was abducting her baby. Turns out she had picked up another household's feed and was seeing THEM picking up THEIR child. Can you imagine the terror she must have experienced??!! I can't imagine thinking that you are watching, on your baby video monitor, someone trying to abduct your child.

Like the news reporter asks, what can happen in this falls into the wrong hands? Is this just now an easier way for "baby-snatchers" to stake out your home??? Hospitals now warn of placing lawn ornaments in your yard, announcing the arrival of your precious little one. Will they now have to warn against having video monitors too??

I personally never used a video monitor, although at times it would have been extremely useful. However I just can't imagine someone else being able to see my sleeping child, or the confusion/panic of seeing a different child, in a different room, in a different house. Wondering how far the signal could carry, they tested the range of the monitors and they were able to pick up the feed inside a house at a range of 352 feet!!

There is good news though. Some brands of monitors are labelled as "video encrypted". This means no one can pick up your video feed (whether on purpose or by accident) without having a set code that they would have to enter. Also, since video monitors are a fairly new thing, this security should only get better, right? Let's hope so!

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