Long Island Neighbor Speaks Out After Family Voices Concerns Over Security Cameras Filming Their Backyard

SHIRLEY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A family is concerned over installed security cameras pointing directly into their backyard in Long Island, and apparently the issue is spreading across New York.

The Rizzitello family called CBS2 last week after their next-door neighbors installed cameras pointing onto their 10-year-old daughter's swing-set.

"It's puzzling and a little disturbing to know someone is looking at you all the time," Adeline Rizzitello told CBS2's Ali Bauman.

On Tuesday, CBS2 spoke with the camera owners on the other side of the fence and they showed us what their four cameras have been recording. At around 11 a.m. on Friday, the Rizzitellos took down their own security camera on their own lawn.

"Twenty minutes before you got here, yes," the neighbor said.

A case of an eye for an eye, and those neighbors didn't want to show their faces, but said they wanted their own camera for security.

"There's a problem with the neighbor and I want to protect my property," the neighbor said.

The Rizzitellos said their camera was a fake and pointing toward their own mailbox. They said even though it is legal for the neighbors to do it, recording a child's swing set takes security too far.

"It's my daughter, my son, my nieces that come to play. It's very disturbing," Rizzitello said.

But this is bigger than a dispute between neighbors. With modern technology it's easier to record other people's properties legally and it's a law that many New Yorkers believe needs to change.

"It's outrageous that someone would film someone in their backyard, especially young children and we need to provide an avenue for people to take recourse in the courts," State Assemblyman Edward Braunstein said.

Braunstein is pushing a bill in the New York Senate that would make it legal to sue someone videotaping onto your property.

"If you're willfully filming someone against their will, we're going to make that illegal," he said.

The neighbors have resolved to take their cameras down for now. For the rest of the state, the assemblyman hopes to have conversations in Albany as soon as their recess is over in May.