Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ring owners are returning their cameras

msn.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 314 posts

Re: Ring owners are returning their cameras

#121

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

mingus88 wrote: post #116
Sharlin wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being recorded while on public property is not illegal in many jurisdictions, but it's certainly iffy and should not be normalized. Any cameras should be directed so that they're exclusively aimed at your own property.

Counterpoint: everyone needs to own their own video streams I hate it, but you are being recorded everywhere you go. Your plates and your face get scanned every single day, all day long. This is normalized. Privacy is dead. You will never get access to any of that data when you need it. It is not there to help you. You need to keep your own evidence of the world around you; you never know when you will need it.

I just assume that I’m on video, at any given time.

Not condoning it; just accepting reality.

> It is not there to help you

It’s like those “This call may be monitored for 'quality' purposes.” service calls.

You can bet, that if the recording helps the company, they’ll have it, but if it helps you, well, they didn’t record that call.

Re: Ring owners are returning their cameras

#122

Post by lnsru »

lifestyleguru wrote: post #14

American surveillance is one thing. All over Europe people install Chinese IP cameras mostly from paranoic and imaginary reasons. Camera literally facing neighbour's windows and doors and their neighbour's own camera. Nobody understands that it's economically impossible to sell IP camera with a mobile app and cloud storage of video for 150 EUR. Their business model is not simply selling cameras. EDIT. I'm really conf…

The camera is absolutely doable for 150€. Just look what raspberry Pi costs. The cut all the corners, take ancient ddr2 memory, ancient processor, optimize every piece for manufacturing and it’s done. Of course, CE testing and regulatory nonsense is not included. But would you buy 150€ camera or the same camera with proper certification for 200€?

Re: Ring owners are returning their cameras

#123

Post by lifestyleguru »

tuzemec wrote: post #106

In related news, there's a recent scandal in Bulgaria that involves leaked footage from beauty salons and gynecological office appearing on porn sites. What could go wrong by installing cheap cameras in such places? https://www.euronews.com/2026/02/04/bulgaria-probes-secret-f... https://www.ocnal.com/2026/02/bulgaria-launches-criminal-pro...

Increasingly that's not only some accidents or data leaks. It's organized streaming with platforms and subscriptions.

[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62rexy9y3no

Re: Ring owners are returning their cameras

#124

Post by antihero »

theodric wrote: post #85
lifestyleguru wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Poland some moron in surveillance center visually profiled a random guy as one wanted person (by jacket color), then police took the guy to the police station and beat him to death. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Igor_Stachowiak

Wow. What an infuriating case, again and again. Only 2 years in prison for the perps because the court decided that "excited delirium" killed the guy and not being beaten and tased 4 times.

And some of the protestors that protested this got 4+ years. Clearly police property has more rights than a human being.

Re: Ring owners are returning their cameras

#125

Post by aweiher »

lifestyleguru wrote: post #14

American surveillance is one thing. All over Europe people install Chinese IP cameras mostly from paranoic and imaginary reasons. Camera literally facing neighbour's windows and doors and their neighbour's own camera. Nobody understands that it's economically impossible to sell IP camera with a mobile app and cloud storage of video for 150 EUR. Their business model is not simply selling cameras. EDIT. I'm really conf…

Personally, I know nobody who has the need to install this type of crappy surveillance shit on their front door in Europe to start with.

You frame it like the only alternative to American surveillance cameras is Chinese surveillance cameras, but no cameras seems to be no option for you.

Who is the one with the paranoid, imaginary reasons?

Edit: Ah btw, here in germany we have of course cameras to see who is in front of the door, it is called Türsprechanlage. It does not record, it does sent to the cloud, it is not smart, and is developed and produced in Germany, for example by Siedle.

Re: Ring owners are returning their cameras

#127

Post by dwedge »

classic959 wrote: post #111
colordrops wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why you are downvoted. Reolinks work without internet and can stream locally using rtsp. I have a doorbell cam from them and it works fine. If you block it from the internet you only get video and basic doorbell functionality though, which is fine.

You can also stream Reolink video to a Frigate box (free software) and access that from wherever. No cloud involved if you run your own VPN. Or even better, _just a little_ cloud involved if you expose through Cloudflare tunnel for just you and whoever else needs to access it.

Given that cloudflare tunnels require ssl termination, this technically isnt much different to a cloud server that promises not to record. Of course, cloudflare are less likely to be inclined to analyse it

Re: Ring owners are returning their cameras

#128

Post by classic959 »

CodeCompost wrote: post #77

Any good alternatives? Preferably one that stores images on a local docker instance running within my network.

Oh yes - run Frigate on a mini PC or home server. It runs best in Docker. And it should work with any cameras that support RTSP and provide H.264 video.

I'm not affiliated btw, but I found the instructions really useful - they walk you through an install of Debian 13 (small version of the OS with minimal components), set up low maintenance options (auto updates etc.), install Docker & Frigate, and set up your cameras for best performance depending on your needs.

Keep everything local (if you want). I also integrate with HomeAssistant and expose that through a free CloudFlare Tunnel for access when away from home.

CloudFlare tunnels by the way - these are a great solution to accessing home-network resources without punching holes / port-forwarding etc. because all the access is outward from the home network, then an authentication layer added by CloudFlare.

Re: Ring owners are returning their cameras

#129

Post by joshstrange »

asdff wrote: post #12
ulrikrasmussen wrote: post #9

Good. But people should not have pointed cameras into public spaces and live streamed everything to the cloud to begin with. Walking past a house with a camera doorbell makes me really uncomfortable, like I'm being watched.

I have a local one (reolink). Prompted by neighbors getting robbed unfortunately. Will this prevent crime? Maybe some but probably not all. But it would let me know if I have to file a stolen package claim or should wait on the package for a few more days. Plus it has been doubling as a trail camera for the local fauna I had no idea came by so frequently. It faces private property only as it is set up.

Yep, I had this setup for years. PoE cameras, connected directly to a Reolink NVR, that I could access over my vpn and then later WireGuard connection back home. I very much enjoyed that setup and it helped me a number of times.

Not only did it give me peace of mind but two specific examples come to mind. One was when the garbage company’s truck picked up my trash can, and never put it back down (the whole thing fell into the back of the truck). I was able to get a replacement can for free, otherwise I wouldn’t have had any clue where it disappeared off to.

The second time was when my first Steam Deck was stolen in-transit. You could tell from the very hollow sound the box made when the delivery person threw the box onto the porch. It helped prove that it wasn’t stolen off my porch (side note, screw UPS, bunch of thieves, I also had another Steam Deck stolen from one of their drop boxes, last time I ever used one, by one of their employees. No recourse at all, I just had to eat the ~$700. Also, Valve, stop shipping the Steam deck in an incredibly obvious box).

Re: Ring owners are returning their cameras

#130

Post by dwedge »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #121
mingus88 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counterpoint: everyone needs to own their own video streams I hate it, but you are being recorded everywhere you go. Your plates and your face get scanned every single day, all day long. This is normalized. Privacy is dead. You will never get access to any of that data when you need it. It is not there to help you. You need to keep your own evidence of the world around you; you never know when you will need it.

I just assume that I’m on video, at any given time. Not condoning it; just accepting reality. > It is not there to help you It’s like those “This call may be monitored for 'quality' purposes.” service calls. You can bet, that if the recording helps the company, they’ll have it, but if it helps you , well, they didn’t record that call.

Gdpr helps with this. I've made a SAR in the past for a recording. It's up to them to decide if the penalty of me having it is worse than the risk of getting caught illegally deleting it after
Post reply on HN