A Canadian executive staying at his brother’s Manhattan apartment with a companion realized eight days into his trip that spy cameras had been placed throughout the flat, a lawsuit alleges.
Gordon Flatt is demanding a judge help him unmask whomever set up the creepy peep show — including a hidden cam behind a bedroom headboard — during his October stay.
His pal looked up and saw one of the devices, which was “surreptitiously placed well above eye level on a high ledge in the kitchen/living room area,” with the wiring near the internet router to make “it more difficult to notice,” Flatt charges in a Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit.
The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, asks a judge to allow Flatt to subpoena Nest — a California-based company which provides hidden cameras with 24/7 live audio and video feeds — to identify the John Doe customer who installed the surveillance.
Flatt’s brother denied any knowledge of the electronic peeping, and Nest won’t provide any information except to note that one of the cameras was on a one-month subscription, claims Flatt.
Three Nest cameras can go for $397, and a subscription can range from $5 to $30 a month, according to the company’s web site.
Flatt and the companion found three cameras in all, “capturing moments that Flatt believed private,” according to court papers.
“When Mr. Flatt and his companion were conversing within the privacy of the apartment, they reasonably did not believe anyone else could hear their conversations or that their conversations were subject to interception,” he said in court papers.
Nest’s cameras let users access live audio and video from the Nest website or app, or download clips “to keep indefinitely,” according to court papers.