General Home Automation :: indigo and securityspy foil robbery, news at eleven.

Author: dtich
Subject: indigo and securityspy foil robbery, news at eleven.
Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:56 pm (GMT -6)

this is truly disheartening. today is the glorious first day of construction on the long awaited retaining wall project in our backyard. it’s been 18 months since we started bidding this. we finally hired a local guy, unlicensed, but who has done many jobs in the neighborhood. we trust him, we like him, and he is half the price of the inflated companies who go through the city.

i am spending the next three months in ny working, which is bad timing on this because we’re just starting work, but what can you do?

so, the geek side of me wins out and i decide one way to feel connected to the whole thing is to use network cams to see the work while i’m in ny. so i install some, and they work perfectly, of course. rather fun all in all. i thought i would feel creepy about it, but i don’t. just another gadget.

well, day one on the job and i call up the server from work and what do i see?

unbelievable. this guy is actually pulling open the window in the guest bedroom. me, guy that i am, from philadelphia, believe in god and all that, i think: oh, maybe he needs to get at an electrical socket. no, there’s one out there by the pool heater, i told him that… hmm, oh, wait– he’s locked in the back yard. the gardner left and locked the gate and this guy doesn’t have a key. but.. still, looks really… suspicious. i send an assistant over to the house to unlock the gate… which is already unlocked when he gets there. he asks the guy if he needs anything, anything in the house? nope, everything is fine.

f*ck. this guy is totally casing my house.

i have full motion video of him from two cameras–as soon as i logged in and saw him, i loaded my indigo control page and hit a control that sets the cameras to record for 1 minute–he tried both windows and tested the sliding door. i called alberto, the guy i hired, his boss, and told him. he fired the guy on the spot (i have video of that, too!) and was really apologetic, but man oh man. this was the last thing i expected to see. day one. sigh.

(Via Perceptive Automation.)