Today, my brother-in-law introduced me to his latest gadget: a bird feeder equipped with a camera. Each time a bird lands on the feeder, he receives a notification on his phone and can watch a video of the visitor. The app even identifies the bird species. It’s a clever and entertaining application of technology.
Nowadays, surveillance seems ubiquitous, and people are growing increasingly concerned about being recorded by the pervasive cameras. There’s a rising clamor for privacy rights.
But what of the privacy rights of animals? A bird cannot even sneak off to the feeder for a quick bite without being captured on camera. And then there are trail cameras, which snap photos of wildlife as if they were celebrities hounded by paparazzi.