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Before buying Ring, WEMO or Roku, consider privacy issues

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Re: Before buying Ring, WEMO or Roku, consider privacy issues

#31

Post by yumraj »

thebean11 wrote: post #28
yumraj wrote: post #24

During Halloween I was rather concerned while taking my kids to homes with Ring. Luckily in most cases the kids had masks, but still. Next Halloween those homes will be in my do-not-visit list.

Genuine question, what scenario are you trying to avoid?

My minor kids' photos in some company's database, tagged with neighborhood data which points to where they live, correlated with what characters they like based on costumes, correlated with their age based on their height and so and so forth..

Now if the said company can connect my kids' photos with their identity based on some other database, it will have a lot more info on them to sell ads and for other nefarious purposes.

Just one scenario I can think of... There may be others.

Re: Before buying Ring, WEMO or Roku, consider privacy issues

#32

Post by Jamwinner »

nontoxyc wrote: post #16
charles_f wrote: post #15

> Wemo says it encrypts all communication between the app, cloud and device and takes privacy and security "seriously." Consider 1) the multiple security breaches that pop up every week, usually following quite dumb holes (unprotected elastic search, unencrypted reset commands, etc.). I have 0 trust in how these companies store my data. 2) the relative longevity (lack thereof) of these companies that still function o…

Do you have a smart phone? If so I have bad news for you.....

Whataboutism, giving up on personal freedom or privacy, because it takes effort is not helpful. Your handle betrays you.

Re: Before buying Ring, WEMO or Roku, consider privacy issues

#33

Post by Jamwinner »

throwawaysea wrote: post #27
9dl wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True What problem if I (anyone) can know where are you now at any point of time, even you newer allow that Or any law enforcement agency can arrest you even if you do nothing and software just wrongly identify your face on crime scene And god forbid if you have not white skin color

What does skin color have to with this? That seems like reckless alarmism. Humans are in the loop to validate facial recognition matches. It’s a first pass filter.

Ever seen africian or latino men on a grainy camera? It kinda does matter.

Re: Before buying Ring, WEMO or Roku, consider privacy issues

#34

Post by giancarlostoro »

samdixon wrote: post #17
giancarlostoro wrote: post #4

I recently bought a house and it came with a Ring doorbell. I dont care for it. I would of never bought one. I do have additional Wyze cams though for my blind spots and the back of the house. I definitely dont ever want to see activity back there. The Wyze cams app is somewhat similar to the Ring app you can see videos people share with Wyze but thing is they have to email those videos in. Wyze says they End-to-End…

This comment reads like an ai was given context from the article and told to spit out a response.

Well I have been sick all week so I am not surprised. But no I have been on HN for a while.

Re: Before buying Ring, WEMO or Roku, consider privacy issues

#35

Post by smabie »

yumraj wrote: post #31
thebean11 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuine question, what scenario are you trying to avoid?

My minor kids' photos in some company's database, tagged with neighborhood data which points to where they live, correlated with what characters they like based on costumes, correlated with their age based on their height and so and so forth.. Now if the said company can connect my kids' photos with their identity based on some other database, it will have a lot more info on them to sell ads and for other nefarious p…

Do you actually believe this is happening? No offense, but what you’re describing sounds like a paranoid fantasy. Moreover, I’m sure your kids value candy more than privacy.

Also your kids have probably been caught on video hundreds of times at convenience stores, streets, wherever. If you actually wanted to avoid them being on camera at all, you would have to lock them in your house and things would turn out like the movie Dogtooth.

It’s not possible to completely protect your privacy unless you make some very hard and costly choices like moving into a cabin in the woods or living a completely isolationist life without internet or contact with the outside world. Unless you want to make these sacrifices for a very dubious benefit, it would probably be better to just worry about something else.

Re: Before buying Ring, WEMO or Roku, consider privacy issues

#36

Post by cthaeh »

yumraj wrote: post #31
thebean11 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuine question, what scenario are you trying to avoid?

My minor kids' photos in some company's database, tagged with neighborhood data which points to where they live, correlated with what characters they like based on costumes, correlated with their age based on their height and so and so forth.. Now if the said company can connect my kids' photos with their identity based on some other database, it will have a lot more info on them to sell ads and for other nefarious p…

Bit paranoid much? At this point why don't u just leave civilization and live with the animals?

Re: Before buying Ring, WEMO or Roku, consider privacy issues

#37

Post by oceanplexian »

tlrobinson wrote: post #19
city41 wrote: post #8

Most of this tracking can be blocked with something like a pi hole: https://pi-hole.net/

Pi-hole is great, but it's not going to help if the designed purpose of the device is to send data to external servers, or if the device bypasses the network's DNS server, especially with the advent of DoH.

The right way to do this is set up a VLAN that can't get out to the Internet and is segregated from your own devices except via inbound connections from a Firewall. I've done this with cheap Chinese IP Cams and much other IOT garbage that has either been reverse engineered and/or presents some form of local network access.

Re: Before buying Ring, WEMO or Roku, consider privacy issues

#38

Post by oceanplexian »

t34543 wrote: post #14
throwawaysea wrote: post #7

I don’t understand the issue here, and it frankly feels like a manufactured outrage from a minority group of activists. If customers voluntarily release a segment of video to law enforcement, so what? That’s their right. People do so in the interest of preventing crime. I don’t have any cameras myself but I completely sympathize with neighbors who have Ring cameras given the huge uptick in property crime here in the…

I have access to my neighbors ring doorbell so I can keep an eye on my home. It tells me about all the local crime and tries to make me afraid. People report door to door salesmen as suspicious. Get real. The real crime here is fear mongering presumably to sell more security products.

You don't need a Ring, you can set up your own IP cams and there is plenty of software out there. While I don't think it is necessary for everyone I've caught tons of stuff on video, including neighbors snooping in my back yard, cops walking around the property, neighborhood cats using the yard as a toilet, the county inspector doing a tax inspection, and more than one person walking up to the camera, seeing it, and then turning around. This was in an average neighborhood in northern California so YMMV if you live in a different area.

Re: Before buying Ring, WEMO or Roku, consider privacy issues

#39

Post by yumraj »

smabie wrote: post #35
yumraj wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My minor kids' photos in some company's database, tagged with neighborhood data which points to where they live, correlated with what characters they like based on costumes, correlated with their age based on their height and so and so forth.. Now if the said company can connect my kids' photos with their identity based on some other database, it will have a lot more info on them to sell ads and for other nefarious p…

Do you actually believe this is happening? No offense, but what you’re describing sounds like a paranoid fantasy. Moreover, I’m sure your kids value candy more than privacy. Also your kids have probably been caught on video hundreds of times at convenience stores, streets, wherever. If you actually wanted to avoid them being on camera at all, you would have to lock them in your house and things would turn out like th…

> Do you actually believe this is happening?

What I'm describing is a rather simple system. If I had access to Rings database and Google's database, I can personally create that system and I'm a very ordinary engineer.

Regarding the rest of the comment: I'm just trying to avoid what I can and delay it as long as I can to find a healthy balance. Else why worry about privacy at all.

Re: Before buying Ring, WEMO or Roku, consider privacy issues

#40

Post by frereubu »

maximente wrote: post #25
3pt14159 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My roommate has a phone. I didn't think much of it until he said "Ok Google" while cooking. What am I supposed to say here? I don't like microphones being always on either, but it's his phone and his home too. I can't escape the millions of cameras around the city or the constant internet trackers. We should have had regulated this stuff decades ago.

i mean, is it any different than having any other conversation that potentially involves interpersonal conflict? if it's important to you and you're willing to burn social capital on it, just politely ask that he not use it when [your boundaries here]. if you come to an impasse, then there's not much to be done other than part ways. i'd imagine this is similar to any other incompatible roommate situations, e.g. someo…

I think the idea is that, rather than fight hundreds of small battles like this every day, we should collectively agree (through democratic political means) what's acceptable without explicit permission.
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