The Erin Andrews trial has brought one thing to the forefront of many peoples’ minds: this could happen to anyone.
Andrews was videotaped naked by now convicted stalker Michael Barrett in 2008 in the Nashville Marriott Hotel at Vanderbilt University.
Barrett captured the video by altering the peephole on the door of Andrews’ room.
A year later, Barrett released the video on the internet, and Andrews’ life changed forever.
After hearing about the video on the news, Gary Van Solkema realized this could happen to anyone at any location that has a peephole, including his daughter, who was at college in 2009 when the video was released.
Van Solkema started looking into what happened with Andrews, and realized any hotel, dorm, apartment, condo, or home could open someone to an invasion of privacy.
“Every place you go that has a peephole has the same issue,” Van Solkema said, adding that not only can peepholes be tampered with, but there are actually devices for sale on the internet that can allow someone to look through a peephole without even touching it, using curved glass.
To help prevent this from happening, Van Solkema got to work and teamed up with Privacy Logic to create a new product.
“We thought of a way to eliminate this problem from happening,” Van Solkema said.
For under ten dollars a piece, hotels, colleges, and private individuals can install peephole covers on their door, making existing peepholes completely secure, and preventing anyone from tampering with the peephole, or seeing through without your knowledge.
“We don’t want to have the possibility of being filmed through the peephole ever happening again,” Van Solkema said.
The specially made peephole covers have already been installed in hotels around the country, including in the Nashville area.
Van Solkema said while the Erin Andrews trial could have large implications on hotel security, the low-cost solution he came up with should be a no-brainer for hotels regardless of where liability is placed.
“We want to protect the guests’ privacy as well as we want to protect the hotel’s investment,” he said.
In addition to the special peephole covers that can be installed directly on the door, Privacy Logic also makes a portable peephole cover that can be taken with someone wherever they may go, such as when they travel, to make sure the peephole is protected from any tampering.
For more information about the peephole security covers made by Privacy Logic, you can visit their website by clicking here.
