@GaryParr Not sure about Alexa support, but I do have a working concept with Google Home and the Google Home Script Editor (in theory, it should still work in the app too). 

What I did was setup shortcuts for privacy mode on/off on my cameras in the Tapo app. I have one shortcut for privacy mode enabled and another for disabled. Then in Google Home, I have an automation setup to set a scene for each shortcut. 

My script is written so that when my garage door is open for 30 minutes, it will run the scene to enable privacy mode on those cameras. The idea being that if my son is playing outside in our front yard, it'll be more than 30 minutes and the garage will be open so he can get his bike/outside toys. But since it's winter, I haven't actually put it to the test. I don't see why using Home/Away status in other smart home hubs can't do the same thing. I would just caution from naming the shortcuts/scenes to something like a standard command such as "turn off camera" because it might confuse the smart home system between setting the "scene" vs an individual command. 

No, this doesn't handle keeping the cameras on/recording and pausing notifications. But it's a workaround nonetheless. A proper setup would be ideal. 

@gk1984, thanks for chiming in.  Yes, privacy mode is something you can automate.  But as you alluded to, a "proper setup" is needed. Turning on/off privacy mode is like taking a sledge hammer to a problem that requires a scalpel.

For anyone interested, the best solution I've found so far is Home Assistant with the Tapo Camera Control add-on component. For most cameras, this is basically the automation you want that TP-Link doesn't provide.

  @GaryParr can you please share your method (C260 here)?

  @D-an-W

It's not all that terribly difficult.

Step 1: Get yourself a Home Assistant install running.

Step 2: Install the Tapo Cameras Control custom component

Step 3: Add your camera(s)

After that, it's just a matter of creating your automation routines in HA and then triggering them through whatever tools you currently use.  For example, I primarily use SmartThings so I added ST to HA as an integration, which allows HA to see all the ST stuff. I then created a couple ST virtual switches for different camera states such as armed-home, armed-away, disarmed, etc.  and use ST routines to flip those switches.  When the switch "armed-away" turns on, the HA routine tells the camera to start Smart Tracking people and enable notification and alarm for People detection. It also enables a routine in HA that will watch the people-detection sensor in the camera (not the pet, motion, or other detection sensors) and turn on my back flood light if the camera in the back detects a person. 

Of course, there is a risk with this. You may realize that HA is a much more capable (and local) automation system and next thing you know, you start migrating all of your ST and Alexa devices and routines into HA and what started as a 1 day quick task turns into a multi-week project while you wonder why you didn't do this years ago. 

Good luck! 

  @GaryParr thanks, I do use HA but wasn't sure on how you set it up for this use case.