Babies broadcast to the neighborhood  

by YardSale

Article by Gostop

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Using a simple analog video baby monitor, KXAN learned it is incredibly easy for anyone within range outdoors to pick up video transmitted from inside a baby’s room.KXAN bought a popular baby monitor that transmits on the 900 megahertz band, plugged in the receiver, turned it on and started driving. Within minutes, we picked up live video feeds of four babies’ cribs inside houses.In one of those cribs was Erin Blanc’s sleeping baby. When we showed Blanc the video of her baby on the monitor inside our car she was concerned.”It is very strange to see her on your monitor in your car out here,” Blanc said. “That is my child, and it’s a little uncomfortable.”We also picked up a very clear signal from inside Kimberly Leonard’s baby’s room.”I was very surprised, and it makes me very uncomfortable,” Leonard said. “It’s concerning that potentially anybody can see what’s going on in the house, which I didn’t realize.”The moms we talked to both have analog Summer Infant video . Any video baby monitor using the 900 Mhz frequency transmits its signal onto public airwaves, essentially setting up a tiny television station inside the user’s home. If the signal is strong enough, that video is transmitted beyond the home, meaning anyone driving or walking by can pick it up and see it.Monitors like the one Leonard uses have a 350-foot range. KXAN was able to pick up video of her baby’s crib more than a block away.Summer Infant warns parents in their user manual that “nursery monitors use public airwaves to transmit signals.” The user’s manual also reads, “This monitor may pick up signals from other monitors or similar devices and signals broadcast by this monitor may be picked up by other receivers.”Blanc didn’t realize that her monitor was broadcasting video of her baby to the neighborhood, and she thinks most other parents would be surprised, too.”There should be more awareness for parents who purchase these items to know that this is a possibility,” she said.Leonard said she bought the monitor to make her feel more secure, but now she feels anything but.”It definitely makes me uncomfortable,” she said. “I don’t think we’ll be using that one anymore.”There are other options for parents who want to use a wireless video monitor. Several manufacturers, including Summer Infant, make video monitors that transmit a digital signal.That signal is scrambled as it’s sent through the air, so others can’t see and hear what’s going on inside a home.For parents who do have an analog monitor, turn it off when not in use.

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