May 29, 2026
Caught on cam: comment section chaos
Show HN: Open-source private home security camera system (end-to-end encryption)
A privacy camera for your home just dropped, and the comments instantly turned into a mini riot
TLDR: Secluso is a new DIY home camera system that says it lets people monitor their homes from a phone without handing video to a big cloud company. Commenters liked the privacy promise but immediately pounced on confusing wording, storage questions, and even the suspiciously similar name.
A new project called Secluso rolled onto Hacker News promising a very online dream: a home security camera system you build yourself with a Raspberry Pi, then watch from your phone without sending your footage to some giant company’s cloud. The pitch is simple and spicy: set it up in five minutes, keep the video private, and still get live viewing, alerts, and saved clips. For anyone tired of the idea that a stranger’s server might know when they leave for work, that’s catnip.
But the real show started in the comments, where readers immediately did what readers do best: interrogate every vague word on the page. One person demanded to know the difference between the “hub” and the “server,” while another basically said, “Cool story, but what is this operating system actually made of?” Translation for non-nerds: people liked the privacy angle, but they wanted receipts. A particularly helpful commenter stepped in to explain the core idea in plain English — you attach a camera to a Raspberry Pi, and the app on your phone talks to it through a middleman that supposedly can’t actually read your video.
And then came the classic internet seasoning: naming drama. One user pointed out that Secluso is awkwardly close to another privacy project’s name, in a very “not accusing, just saying…” kind of way. Another asked the practical question everyone secretly cares about: okay, but can I watch footage from an hour ago? So yes, the launch landed — but the crowd wants less buzzword fog, more plain answers, and maybe a clearer name before they trust it with their front door drama.
Key Points
- •Secluso is an open-source private home security camera system for Raspberry Pi that provides live video, alerts, and recording access without sending footage to a cloud provider.
- •The project emphasizes end-to-end encrypted remote access, open-source code, and fully reproducible releases for its OS image, deploy tool, runtime binaries, and Android app.
- •Secluso says setup can be completed in about five minutes using Secluso Deploy for image generation, pairing, and relay provisioning.
- •The supported hardware includes Raspberry Pi Zero 2W and Raspberry Pi camera modules or compatible cameras using OV5647 or IMX219 Sony sensors.
- •The project documents a security model featuring an untrusted-relay design, forward secrecy, and post-compromise security, while also warning that it is provided without guarantees.