Should I be OK with my townhouse neighbor's Ring doorbell camera?

[Jason]

I understand you are a religious guy and you're probably trying to love your neighbor as best you can but if you lived with this guy during the Mosaic period he'd be peeking into your tents at night. You have to think of HOA as the fence that makes good town home neighbors. I never address problems with neighbors directly. I contact the board and tell them to solve the problem.

[Vaikeasti]

In Finland it is against the law to record anything other than your private land so this would be a clear cut case here. The door bell camera that can record anything more than their own door would be illegal and would have to go.

Actually I just checked; here it doesn't even need to record to be illegal. It violates your right to privacy if it sees to your door too.
And if it just records the shared areas they'd need your permission and legal documents of how they comply with GDPR and the such because it would be considered a register of personal information.

Sometimes it's good to live in a highly byrocratic society.

Good luck on setting healthy boundaries with the neighbours.

[jacob]

@Vaikeasti - In the US, the law is somewhat more specific/vague. Depending on the state, one can often (legally) record areas---other people's private land---that are visible from public access (like a road). This means that it's legal if your Ring covers the neighbor's house across the street---because it's visible from the street. This is also how Google Streetmaps or real estate agencies can legally record images of your house and backyard (insofar there's a back alley). OTOH, if the neighbor had a privacy fence around their yard (so not visible from the road) and you pointed a camera at it from the second floor, that would be illegal. @HB's situation seems a bit tricky in that record. Dunno if the stairway counts as public.

PS: Rings are rather controversial over here but for other reasons.

[RealPerson]

Given your neighbor's pattern of creepy behaviors, have you considered the possibility that he has installed listening devices on his side of the common wall? Is there a way to find this out? He might be listening to all your conversations inside your condo.