Mastodawn

「 future ape 」Feb 11

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Ring has announced a new “Search Party” feature that could eventually bring mass biometric surveillance to our streets. It’s on by default. Shut it off.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/02/no-one-including-our-furry-friends-will-be-safer-rings-surveillance-nightmare-0

No One, Including Our Furry Friends, Will Be Safer in Ring's Surveillance Nightmare

Amazon Ring’s Super Bowl ad offered a vision of our streets that should leave every person unsettled about the company’s goals for disintegrating our privacy in public.In the ad, disguised as a heartfelt effort to reunite the lost dogs of the country with their innocent owners, the company...

Electronic Frontier Foundation

@eff I was horrified when I saw that commercial.

Mike Johnston Feb 11

@eva @eff yeah my first thought was uhh hey Ring, read the room...
I've edited a version of their ad to show what I saw...

LittlePolarBear Feb 10

@eff love the easy instructions to share w normies

Kevin Russell Feb 10

How do we install the resistance on Ring, disconnect it from ICE?

Asking for a nation. A species that will not suffer tyrants.

Jeffrey Rogers 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿Feb 11

@kevinrns @eff It’s a real shame that 2.4Ghz Bluetooth jammers are illegal. Pretty cheap, widely available, difficult to detect - but don’t buy them folks because they’re illegal.

Chad Zahara Feb 11

@Jeffrey @kevinrns @eff I will definitely, never ever, buy one of those. No, siree!

ferricoxide Feb 10

@eff

At least with a standalone smart camera, you can mount them in ways that constrains their view to just your property. Unfortunately, with the ways most porches are laid out, that's all but impossible with a doorbell camera.

ferricoxide Feb 11

@eff

Also, just because you opt out, should we have any confidence that they aren't still using your camera for these purposes? Do we really think they'll be satisfied leaving holes in their surveillance nets when they can just silently closing those holes? I mean, they were supposed to get owners' consent before sharing with police, but that seemed to be done with a wink and a nod. I imagine the Flock arrangement will show owners' preferences being similarly bypassesd.

ferricoxide Feb 12

@eff

So... Nest was able to provide footage to the FBI to help in the Guthrie investigation. They were able to do this, even though the owner's subscription had lapsed and the camera was notionally offline. It was only offline for homeowner: clearly Google is still collecting video streams. Presumably, using it as an ongoing source of training data for their AI and other efforts.

So, yeah. I don't trust any of them to honor opt-outs.

Judeau (EatTheRich)Feb 10

@eff Yep. As soon as I saw this ad this is immediately what I thought of. Anybody that's even remotely been paying attention knows exactly what this is for and where it's headed.

RowinSpeez Feb 10

@eff STOP USING RING ALTOGETHER, holy shit it's easy you guys.

Don Hawkins - W7DAH Feb 10

@eff @wb2ifs “Shut it off”!? How about never buy their crap to begin with … & if you already made that mistake tear the thing out & ask for a refund.

Jesse Alexander, WB2IFS/3 Feb 11

@donhawkins @eff Yeah but my neighbors have it... The guy across the street showed a great video of my front door and garage on his mobile.🤔 😡

Don Hawkins - W7DAH Feb 11

@wb2ifs @eff All the benefits, none of the overhead? 😎 (J/K)

Flaming June Feb 10

@eff How about … just not have one? You’re already into surveillance if you do.

blobcatverified

@eff I wouldn't touch Ring cameras with a ten foot pole, but I'm still subject to surveillance by my neighbor's Ring cameras.

@eff oh boy the future is bright!

prokyonid Feb 11

@eff
https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/remove-your-ring-camera-with-a-claw?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1536173&post_id=187505604

Remove Your Ring Camera With a Claw Hammer

Home and life improvement.

How Things Work

🔨 An alternate method to disable the feature. 🔨

Kevin Russell Feb 11

Reddit is PISSED and theyre organising Ring Camera mass returns to Amazon

Ring camera fascism.

#ring #Nazi #ice #surveillance

@eff
Amazon has been in the surveillance and data collection and data mining game for most of its years.

They even tried to buy Roomba, which exists to send 3d images of your floor plan back to h.q. under the guise of cleaning.

IOT was never about our convenience. It was always about surveillance.

Do people really not know these things or are they waiting for the bandwagon to feel some kind of way?

None of this is new.
#surveillance #ring #amazon

George B Feb 11

@eff @rayocentric

They tried to buy roomba but the EU started asking too many questions about the deal and they abandoned it, another point for strong antitrust regulations

@gbargoud Thanks for keeping me honest. Last I heard, it was a done deal... but that was awhile ago.

In any case, we all know a little bit more about Roomba. Thanks again, though.

@gbargoud I'm keeping my error up so more people can fact check me. You're the hero of this thread.

George B Feb 11

I thought it was a done deal a year or so ago when I looked it up for whatever reason and was surprised to see that they don't always get their way.

PS. I would recommend just changing "bought" to "tried to buy", your point would still stand

@gbargoud
Advice taken. Thanks yet again. I'm planting your flag on this thread cuz you saved it twice.

Dagnabbit, Pascaline! 💥Feb 11

@gbargoud
Meanwhile, Dutch police advise people to get a Ring 🙄 They even launched a website (https://www.politie.nl/informatie/aanmelden-camera-in-beeld.html) where people can register their camera to be part of a surveillance chain. The name and address of an owner of a camera capturing a crime are visible to lawyers defending the criminals. It's all so bad, and all the sheep happily jump on the same boat.
That being said, a family member was traumatised after a horrible robbery at home. A Ring is now in place.

Aanmelden Camera in Beeld

U kunt zich met de knop onderaan deze tekst met de naam Camera aanmelden (Particulier) aanmelden voor Camera in Beeld. U kunt dat doen als: u een nieuwe deelnemer bent en u zich voor het eerst aanmeldt. u een bestaande deelnemer bent en u een mail heeft gekregen van de politie met de vraag om u opnieuw aan te melden met uw DigiD. Onderstaande aanmeldknop leidt u naar de pagina van DigiD waar u kunt inloggen. Na aanmelding krijgt u een bevestigingsmail waarin staat dat u (opnieuw) bent aangemeld. Vanaf dat moment krijgt u jaarlijks een mail van ons, waarna u eenvoudig online kunt aangeven of uw gegevens nog kloppen. Als u al deelnemer was aan Camera in Beeld, wordt na uw eenmalige nieuwe aanmelding uw oude aanmelding direct automatisch uit Camera in Beeld verwijderd.

Rhett Robinson Feb 11

@eff better, just get rid of ring entirely

Kevin LaRose,aka Grumpasaurus Feb 11

@eff @earthlingusa I’m so glad I talked myself out of the Ring doorbell idea last year. This seems like something straight out of dystopian science fiction.

Anakbontot Feb 11

@eff That's definitely a concerning development! I can see why many people would want to shut that feature off. What do you think could be done to better safeguard our privacy in these situations?

fedithom Feb 11

And then rip all your Ring crap out and cancel everything Amazon. Please.

Travis Scott Feb 11

@eff better yet get a different one not ice favorite ally

MegatronicThronBanks Feb 11

Well start dicking with it!!

Johannes Smits Feb 11

@eff Do Americans know that you don’t have to install a Ring camera. Other brands with less privacy issues do exist.

Disisdeguey🔻PalestineAction🇵🇸Feb 11

@eff Get a Gps for your dog. 🤷

anonymouspl Feb 15

@eff correct me if I am wrong but this will be heavily illegal under EU AI law, right?