But context matters. Mitigating circumstances matter. An act that's completely immoral in one context is perfectly moral in another. Human history is a messy pile of wrongs and rights feeding into and onto each other perpetually. Ultimately we just try to do the most right and least wrong possible in the context of the situation.
Circumstances may have some degree of influence, but there would also be limit as to what the Family would be willing to accept regarding what MC does, before he gets into the "red-alert" territory of actions which the Family would find unacceptable.
Spying on the Family (Donna's office, all the girls rooms etc), is a serious invasion of privacy which would be in that "unacceptable" territory from the Family's POV.
Now if we flip it all over onto MC's POV, you've been stating from beginning till now, MC is totally in the right and is morally correct to spy on the Family (just for the sake of gathering intel regarding his contract).
I find that to be incorrect.
While one can give a bit of sympathy to his situation, by no means does that really justify what he's doing. As I said before (and saying it again lol), the Family has entrusted MC with a lot of things that they would never trust anyone else in the Family to (such as trying to heal the mental scars/issues of Luna, Gracie, Isabel and Cordia), so by continuous use of it from the beginning till now.
He may try to rationalize/sugarcoat it but that doesn't mean he's in the right.
And MC, when he's in the wrong clearly realizes that he is (even if he may not openly admit it out loud). Examples of such situations are with Luna in "My name is Luna" event, and with Isabel & Gracie in "The Blizzard Princess" event.
Also, since he installed the cameras/audio recorders, the game has shown glimpses of him every now and then of being wary of people (such as Gracie) figuring out that the cameras/audio are installed.
If he is so righteous and 100% morally correct in his POV why would he be wary of such a situation?
That's because he knows if he gets caught (red-handed) with the cameras/audio recorders, he will not be able to talk his way out of it claiming that he was "right", since what he did was a totally wrong thing to do, not just towards the Family, but his own actions as general even if "intel gathering" excuse is used.
There are also some scenes which further expand this:
1) Cordia's "Don't Peek" note
After the girls pink paint bomb incident to their bath room and they're forced to share bathroom with the MC, he is given a note by Wilfred which is from Cordia saying "Don't peek."
While this scene is played for laughs and I don't think it's gonna have any major influence on the storyline in general, it gives hints as to Cordia's personality (and Wilfred also, since he literally says to MC "Consequences of peeking.......will be severe.").
2) Cordia catching MC in her office
MC got caught red-handed in her office snooping around in secret.
This is what Cordia says to MC then:
"I am
not happy with you sneaking around." (yup, and the word "not" is in bold in game too)
Can't get any more obvious than that, regarding what Cordia would think of MC doing behind the Family's back.
She forgave him once, because snooping around wasn't a too serious offense and she was understanding of how he feels being sympathetic of his situation. But if she and Wilfred catches him with the cameras/audio recorders would she react the same way once more?
I'd say no. I wouldn't expect her (and Wilfred) to be so forgiving this time around.
Well, I'd say the only way that the MC would be able to make everything right is to own up to what he did, and take responsibility for his own wrong doings.
While he can state the reason why he installed the cameras was to find more info, he shouldn't deny what he did wrong (because what he did/doing, was/is indeed wrong), and accept any punishment that Cordia and Wilfred hands to him.
That would show his growth as a character.
Trying to shift the blame (to the Family) or talk his way out of it like he sometimes did till now would basically be that he's unwilling to bear responsibilities (even for things that he did which wronged others), and would diminish his value as a character.