Smart doorbells are not merely convenience devices, they are domestic surveillance tools that capture audio-visual data in and around private homes. Promoted as instruments of security and peace of mind, they have quietly introduced new forms of everyday monitoring that blur the boundaries between private and public space. This paper presents findings from the first phase of a two-stage qualitative study exploring how stakeholders perceive and navigate the ethical, legal, and social implications of smart doorbell surveillance.

Drawing on pilot survey data from a residential neighbourhood in Leicester, UK, the study identifies five emergent themes: shifts in community trust, surveillance used in neighbour conflict, domestic safety applications, incidental recording and consent issues, and discomfort with the normalisation of surveillance. These findings are interpreted through the theoretical lenses of Foucault’s Panopticism and Zuboff’s Surveillance Capitalism, highlighting how smart doorbells reshape behaviour, visibility, and power at the resi-dential threshold.

In response to these concerns, the discussion incorporates normative frameworks, in particular Privacy by Design, Ethics by Design, and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), to outline practical pathways for more accountable and democratic technology design and regulation.