Privacy concerns sparked for residents of West Covina, as homeowner George Nguyen found a camera hidden in the bush of their front yard. 

Nguyen walked into his front yard on April 25th to find that someone had tried to hide a camera in one of his bushes. 

Being within a 2-mile radius of Mt. SAC Early College Academy (MECA), students are recognizing the importance of their privacy. 

Senior Maab Masri keeps her privacy sacred, even from her twin sister. 

 “I don’t even give my sister my passwords to anything, even though she is my sister,” she shares. 

Her parents immigrated to the United States, and she feels that this makes her want to protect the privacy of not only herself, but also her family, even more. 

“I have parents who are immigrants … I feel like I’m kind of protective of our privacy for that since they aren’t, because they don’t know how the Internet works nowadays,” she expanded. 

With each generation having different perspectives on how the internet works, it makes sense that Masri would want her family’s privacy to be protected. 

Similarly, senior Alonzo Galindo shares, “My privacy is really important. I kind of enjoy being a private person.”

In order to maintain his privacy, he shared that he keeps his location off of social media, like Snapchat. 

“Snapchat, people would always watch your snap things. So I always have that thing on ghost mode,” he shares.

He elaborates, “If somebody was watching me, it would be pretty weird.”

The Nguyen family did not willingly place this camera in front of their house, and the police are still searching suspects. 

Some families choose to have security cameras on their properties to take safety precautions. 

Senior Samuel Amador feels this is beneficial to his family. His cameras are placed in the entrance to their backyard, as well as the front door. 

“I think security cameras for the outside of the house are definitely very useful.” 

Masri agrees, just as long as other people are not visible on the cameras. 

“I think that’s allowed in front of your house. Okay, but let’s draw the line somewhere. I live in an apartment and my neighbor has a camera for her house … but I feel like it’s invading my privacy because it shows my house as well.” 

Masri encourages the Nguyens to install cameras in front of their home, for their peace of mind, and to ensure their safety if a similar situation were to ever happen. 

Additionally, she thinks it would be useful for them to routinely check the outside of their house. 

Amador agrees and adds, “They should definitely stay vigilant. Of course, let the cops do their thing, let them investigate everything, but if they get suspicious of anything, definitely write it down and then tell the police, for sure.” 

He also shared that if they continue to feel unsafe in their West Covina home, moving in with a family member for a short period of time may be helpful. 

Galindo shares, “I think to ensure their safety, they could just check the perimeter of the house and make sure nobody else is watching them, and file a report with the police.”

Privacy is something that everyone has the right to, and with cases like the Nguyen family, it reminds local students to keep the privacy of themselves and their families secure.