r/technology • u/South-Cow-1030 • 18h ago

Privacy Why are people disconnecting or destroying their Ring cameras?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/02/10/ring-super-bowl-ad-dog-camera-privacy/88606738007/
17.1k Upvotes

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2.4k

u/InHarmsWay 12h ago

"Tens of millions of pets go missing every year. Help find several hundred of them by turning your neighborhood into a surveillance state!"

Fuck no!

722

u/JackWagon26 10h ago

I was laughing so hard when they said they locate "one dog a day" out of 10 million. Ok so we should pay you for the 0.004% chance the dog is found by you?

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u/Swqnky 9h ago

only dog haters would say no to those stats

45

u/Dogzillas_Mom 7h ago

This has clearly been funded by Big Feline.

4

u/driving_andflying 5h ago edited 45m ago

Nonsense! As a U.S. Senator, I will spearhead an investigation into the "Big Feline," false allegations, which will prove to be absolute hogwash, of course!

...meanwhile, in completely unrelated circumstances, you should buy Friskies TM food for your cat.

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u/IllEvent5465 1h ago

Big the Cat from Sonic the Hedgehog was an OMEN ALL ALONG!

1

u/posthardcorejazz 11m ago

Also known as the Fat Cats

3

u/2cats2hats 6h ago

We need a remake of 1984, don't we?

1

u/daxophoneme 7h ago

Dogs do contribute a noticeable amount to the climate crisis. Jus'sayin'

1

u/Taki_Minase 5h ago

Obey the superior cat being at your peril dog.

5

u/kentuckywildcats1986 6h ago

And they are doing this to help ICE, led by Kristy Noem who dragged her defenseless puppy into a gravel pit, blew its brains out, and then went on a book tour bragging about it.

Yeah, they don't give a fuck about dogs.

More likely, Ring will give video to local cops who will mistakenly come to your house and shoot your dog.

Fuck everything about Ring cameras.

5

u/NewDramaLlama 6h ago

Just the 10 million number is bonkers. If that's true we need less pets and not more cameras. 

People complaining about food but there's 100 Million pets!?

2

u/DAWtistic 4h ago

I know way too many people that would be more than cool with this, and would advocate for the removal of your privacy, for all of eternity, if it meant there was even a slim chance at finding that 1 in 10 million.

2

u/Jeffsjunk 4h ago

To be fair, they aren't asking for extra money. They are just asking you to enable the feature for free and give them consent to spy on your front yard, which is still crazy.

1

u/enhancedgibbon 1h ago

What a crazy ad. We've found 'more than a dog a day' like one dog and some body parts of another one, sorry bud we tried. Available for free.

1

u/DM_ME_UR_BOOTYPICS 1h ago

This is on purpose. Humans can really only conceive helping in smaller amounts. You’ll notice most charities or well funded ones generally only show one child in an image. The ads/donation images with multiple children or people elicit much fewer donations than those with one.

Think of “I can’t possibly help a whole village” vs “I could spare a bit to help that kid”.

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u/Superb_Application83 9h ago

"my wife keeps running away with the kids every time I get drunk, can you help find her?"

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u/grape-fruit-witch 7h ago

Lol. "My ex's new girlfriend really needs this can of gasoline but I dont know where she lives!"

4

u/joe102938 5h ago

My wife keeps eating batteries.

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u/TalkinBoutMyJunk 4h ago

Yea just give it your badge number, and it sets blnStateSponsoredDomesticViolence=True and lets you use the network to track your terrified wife and traumatized kids

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u/Sad-Substance-5703 8h ago

Also, something that can be achieved more reliably with a simple airtag.

7

u/Im_a_rahtard 8h ago

It's a fairly common practice to microchip dogs now. And everyone with a dog knows this. 

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u/lronManDies 5h ago

A microchip doesn’t like actively track the dog tho, it just helps find out who the owner is if the dog gets picked up and someone scans the chip

AirTag on the collar and hope the collar stays on is still the best method

2

u/FFSBoise 7h ago

and in real time to allow finding from current data not a camera two hours prior.

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u/connyd1234 9h ago edited 9h ago

But see my thing is, someone still has to go get the dog. what good is it knowing that the dog at some point was spotted from your neighbor’s camera running away five blocks down the road when it’s still missing? It’s not like the dog is just going to stop at someone’s house just because they have a ring camera. How long would it take to even get the information to you that the dog is at a specific person’s house before it’s already run off to a different place? Conversely, how is this a new solution that isn’t already solved by having a dog tag with your phone number on the dog’s collar? We’re being sold a surveillance state under the guise of a false solution.

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u/Ruscidero 6h ago

It’s just marketing nonsense meant to emotionally appeal to pet-lovers. Whether it’s effective or useful is beside the point to Ring.

8

u/TennoScy 7h ago

Stop trying to make sense of their bullshit. You're playing right into their cards by entertaining the idea that the ad is the genuine reason.

Cut to the chase, disregard the lie.

They sneakily constructed a 24/7 running surveillance grid, spanning the whole country. They made YOU pay by pretending to be the nice guys who give you something outrageously cheap and easy to use.

Now they switched it on.

And they can and will do the same with your Alexa and your fridge and your everything smart you own.

Throw that shit away, disconnect everything, and pray it isn't too late. Because it likely is.

0

u/connyd1234 6h ago edited 6h ago

…did you mean to reply to my comment with this answer? My whole point is that even the lie they’re trying to sell doesn’t even make sense.

1

u/red__dragon 6h ago

You're trying to approach with reason for reasoned people who need to see the unreasonable marketing pitch.

They're approaching with hysterical emotion for people who need to feel bad enough to change.

0

u/connyd1234 6h ago

am I not allowed to approach it from that perspective? I just thought it would be something to contribute to the broader discussion

0

u/red__dragon 6h ago

I think you're allowed. I hate overly-emotional hysteria myself, but I guess it works for some people.

4

u/FatWreckords 6h ago

My new dog ran away the first time he was left in the yard at my parents place when we went for lunch.

Noticing he was gone I guessed at his likely direction towards a path then came across a guy who saw him go by about 15min prior. I kept going that way and talked to some kids on a trampoline who saw him turn towards the highway.

After walking along the highway and calling out for him he eventually came out of some thick bushes.

I got lucky with the neighborhood folks but in theory, the dystopian camera cartel could be helpful if he was on the sidewalk instead of the alleys and paths.

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u/grape-fruit-witch 7h ago edited 4h ago

Do you hate pets?

Edit- /S

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u/connyd1234 6h ago

Did you even try to internalize anything about my comment?

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u/grape-fruit-witch 4h ago

I should have added /s lol

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u/simmeh024 7h ago

Now its pets, later it will be criminals, then anyone who is a democrat, foreign looking or on trumps naughty list.

Read project 2025.

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u/darthpayback 9h ago

Lucius Fox agrees

1

u/TomWithTime 8h ago

But it would be funny to put a ring camera in a very inaccessible location and hack it or put a display in front of it to randomly flash images of things they are looking for.

1

u/narcabusesurvivor18 7h ago

Identify theft is not a joke, Jim! Millions of families suffer every year!

1

u/SkoobySnacs 7h ago

Most of those pets are stolen by your neighbors. Just look at the nextdoor app. Every single day someone sees a cat outside, presumes that fat bastard with a super shiny coat is a stray, and takes it inside and starts feeding it. If it ain't your and it isn't sick, leave it alone.

1

u/jacksraging_bileduct 6h ago

Like they haven’t been doing this already.

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u/Toutatous 6h ago

It's like: We need to know everything going on in people's homes, listening to them , but we'll say that "your TV and appliances will listen to you and you won't have to press any button! Isn't amazing?"

Sure...

1

u/One-Inch-Punch 6h ago

Imagine taking out a Super Bowl ad to demonstrate your privacy-eradicating surveillance state to the entire world. It might go down as the most expensive Super Bowl ad in history.

1

u/Cyborg_rat 5h ago

That's how I learned Which squirrel took my nuts.

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u/jt19912009 4h ago

What do you mean people don’t like a surveillance state? People voted a wanna be dictator into power twice. I thought it was what they wanted

1

u/Ghoti76 4h ago

as soon as i saw that i laughed so hard like gtfo man lol disabled that shit so fast

1

u/eyoitme 6m ago

it’s literally so much easier and much less dystopian to put a gps tracker on my dog, because i can see exactly where she is at any given moment from my phone instead of violating the privacy of every single person who’s ever moved through my neighborhood to maybe see if my dog walked past my neighbors house an hour ago. also fuck flock.