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The quick and dirty method is to point your phone at the suspicious device in total darkness. A modern smartphone will pick up the infrared (your eyes won't). Or get yourself a simple RF detector (or even a Software Defined Radio).

You might find this presentation useful (!PDF!). https://defcon.org/images/defcon-22/dc-22-presentations/Pols...

Privacy is a human right. Best of luck!

That is a crazy situation, which I've never even contemplated!

But:

> There’s even a clock we hate, hardwired into the wall, pointed directly at the master bedroom shower

That wouldn't survive the night in my house.

It's not necessarily about the former owner being nefarious. If they reset devices before moving, or just abandoned the systems, they could be unpatched/exploitable, or even failing "open" from a security perspective.

Get a screwdriver!

> I’ve said to my wife before that I don’t want our kids growing up feeling like they’re always being watched. Nefariously or not, even just the feeling of assuming that someone is watching has to have a profound impact on the way you develop.

I grew up like this, and it probably made me more paranoid and prone to rebel against authority. My dad set up security cameras outside and inside the house. I kind of understood the outside cameras, though he only did it after he found out I brought my girlfriend over when they weren't home. The last straw was when he set up a camera behind my desk pointing at my monitor.

I was 16 and already mad I couldn't bring my girlfriend over, but the camera pointing at my desk put me over the edge. So I ssh'd in using the default admin password, rooted it, and rm -rf /*.

> even just the feeling of assuming that someone is watching has to have a profound impact on the way you develop.

This isn't really discussed enough. It's not just an impact on children's development, it's also an impact on adults.

If people think that they're being surveilled (whether or not they really are), that changes how they think and act. They can never really be themselves anymore. That effect is the entire reason that panopticons were invented. It's also a key part of the book "1984".

Personally, I think this means that ubiquitous surveillance is a form of psychological torture. Or, at best, it's a form of psychological manipulation.

It's poison to the very idea of community and society.

> If people think that they're being surveilled (whether or not they really are), that changes how they think and act. They can never really be themselves anymore.

Are you suggesting people cannot be themselves when they are being watched through a camera? Wonder what the implications are in the social media era.

> MCLUHAN: And this, I think, has been one of the big effects of the electric age. It has deprived people, really, of their private identity.

> They become alienated from themselves very quickly, and then they seek all sorts of bizarre outlets to establish some sort of identity by put-ons. Show business had been one way of establishing identity by just put-ons. And without the put-on, you're a nobody. And so people are learning show business as an ordinary daily way of survival. It's called role-playing.

https://www.tvo.org/transcript/155847/marshall-mcluhan-in-co...

> Are you suggesting people cannot be themselves when they are being watched through a camera?

Yes, this is really well established. Not just through a camera, either. This happens with all kinds of surveillance.

For instance, when people are aware of relatively innocuous things such as software telemetry or that streaming services are paying attention to what you watch, they will use the software or streaming differently than if they aren't aware of it.

The classic example of this is from the days of Neilsen TV ratings. Neilsen families would routinely do things like ensuring that they let their favorite shows play on the TV even if they aren't watching them out of a fear that if they don't, they're increasing the chances that the show will get cancelled.

Or a more modern example: how many people have decided to watch or not watch something on YouTube or other streaming service with an eye toward manipulating the personalized recommendations the service provides?

This is also one of McLuhan's points. If we think we have an audience, our thoughts and actions tend to become performative for that audience rather than authentic.

Reminded me of when I read 1984 and thought "how would they ever get a camera into everyone's house" and the answer is "the people put them there willingly"

That’s a scary situation. I wonder how could someone maintain access to cameras without your WiFi login information? Maybe if the DVRs have cellular access, but I haven’t heard of those before. What an interesting problem. You mentioned your kids, but do you think you’ll ever feel like you’re not being watched?

The easiest way to be sure you’re not being watched is to cut power to them, at the camera itself if you’re really concerned.

True, but it seemed that OP was implying that he wasn’t sure he knew where every camera was. He clearly seemed to be concerned that there was a hidden camera in the clock. What do you suggest for that situation?

If I had real concerns that my own house was bugged with hidden cameras I would either contract with someone who specializes in handling that sort of thing or sell the house. If doing the latter, consider any applicable disclosure laws and what you do or do not know about the house.

OP said there's a server room in the basement, so if they are just using the servers as they were and connected that equipment to their network, then the guy could potentially access them.

Why keep any of it? Why waste one second trying to "transfer access" if there's even an iota of doubt?

Was the existing system a big reason why you bought the house?

Rip it all out and install your own stuff!