Amazon Ring's lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon Ring's lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance

#321

Post by frm88 » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 9:53 AM UTC

nobody9999 wrote: post #319

frm88 wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they live somewhere with a working postal law like Germany. Hand it directly to the addressed or a person authorised by the addressed (in which case inform the recipient via card or sms) or deposit it in a postbox, post office. This way it is secure that you receive your stuff even if you are not at home: https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/DE/Fachthemen/Post/Regelung...

>No, they live somewhere with a working postal law like Germany. Hand it directly to the addressed or a person authorised by the addressed (in which case inform the recipient via card or sms) or deposit it in a postbox, post office. This way it is secure that you receive your stuff even if you are not at home: https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/DE/Fachthemen/Post/Regelung ... Sure. And that's great. But we're not talki…

Those folks are assuredly not going to do anything more than the bare minimum (and not necessarily because they don't want to) because their delivery quotas don't allow for anything more than dumping a package on a porch (or in an unattended apartment building lobby) and maybe ringing the doorbell/intercom.

So, implement surveillance of all, not only for the fracture of a percent of dogs returned but also because there are no functioning labour laws. Right. Got it. (/s)

Re: Amazon Ring's lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance

#322

Post by deaux » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 9:53 AM UTC

slg wrote: post #29

mjr00 wrote: post #20

The Dark Knight was released in 2008. In that movie, Batman hijacks citizens' cellphones to track down the Joker, and it's presented as a major moral and ethical dilemma as part of the movie's overall themes. The only way Batman remains a "good guy" in the eyes of the audience is by destroying the entire thing once he's done. Crazy to think that less than two decades later, an even more powerful surveillance technolo…

It's hard to not become disillusioned with our industry when most of it is just the manifesting of that Torment Nexus tweet. It's like no one in the tech world actually understands any piece of fiction that they have ever consumed.

If we're looking globally, the huuge majority of our industry isn't part of manifesting the Torment Nexus. Unfortunately a lot of HN is, because interest in SV/VC strongly biases towards interest in achieving personal goals (including but not limited to financial earnings), over caring about building something that helps society.

And no, of course not everyone in SV is like that, and not every VC-funded company helps inch towards the Torment Nexus. But there's inherently a strong bias towards it.

Re: Amazon Ring's lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance

#323

Post by watwut » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 9:56 AM UTC

slg wrote: post #176

mrob wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Starship Troopers (the movie) is a terrible example of satire because it fails to show anything substantially bad. When you present a society that's more ethical than real life, nobody's going to care if some people wear uniforms that look a bit like Nazi uniforms. There is a genuine existential risk, and it's addressed in the best way possible. Military slavery ("conscription") is more evil than disenfranchisement,…

This is all intentional. The film is emulating the type of film that would be produced by this fascist regime, of course it isn't going to include proof of the fascists being wrong. But we also don't see any evidence in support of their claims of an "existential threat" beyond the fascists claiming there is one. And since it's from the fascist perspective, the lack of evidence justifying their actions ends up support…

> But we also don't see any evidence in support of their claims of an "existential threat" beyond the fascists claiming there is one.

That is pretty clutching at straws argument. It would turn basically any movie into satire, because this thing is normal.

Like, it was a bad movie and failed both as satire and as action movie.

Re: Amazon Ring's lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance

#324

Post by nobody9999 » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 10:03 AM UTC

frm88 wrote: post #321

nobody9999 wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>No, they live somewhere with a working postal law like Germany. Hand it directly to the addressed or a person authorised by the addressed (in which case inform the recipient via card or sms) or deposit it in a postbox, post office. This way it is secure that you receive your stuff even if you are not at home: https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/DE/Fachthemen/Post/Regelung ... Sure. And that's great. But we're not talki…

Those folks are assuredly not going to do anything more than the bare minimum (and not necessarily because they don't want to) because their delivery quotas don't allow for anything more than dumping a package on a porch (or in an unattended apartment building lobby) and maybe ringing the doorbell/intercom. So, implement surveillance of all, not only for the fracture of a percent of dogs returned but also because the…

>So, implement surveillance of all, not only for the fracture of a percent of dogs returned but also because there are no functioning labour laws. Right. Got it. (/s)

Why stop there? People actually lie once in a while and say they never received a package that was supposedly delivered. We need to put those cameras inside peoples' homes, especially in the bathrooms and bedrooms where they hide the packages that were "never delivered." And why stop there? if we find that folks are lying about that, they should be tased, beaten and sent to prison (or just shot dead on the spot) for many years because they tried to defraud the powers-that-be ^H^H^H megacorps, and we can't allow that now can we? /s[0]

On a more serious note, there actually are labor (but without that extraneous 'u', friend!) laws in the US. But those generally only apply to "employees" and not subcontractors. Here's a page from Amazon about how to become a "delivery service partner"[1] (read: subcontractor so Amazon can avoid pesky things like labor laws, minimum wages, health care coverage, etc.), so you too can spend thousands and finally be allowed to urinate in plastic bottles. Good times!

[0] My '/s' is much broader and more absurd than yours. Please get ready for round two of the /s-waving contest :)

[1] https://logistics.amazon.com/

Re: Amazon Ring's lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance

#325

Post by user205738 » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 10:08 AM UTC

hackable_sand wrote: post #246

slg wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard to not become disillusioned with our industry when most of it is just the manifesting of that Torment Nexus tweet. It's like no one in the tech world actually understands any piece of fiction that they have ever consumed.

Video games are jammed with the follies of man. Elden Ring: Nightreign is a recent anthology of moral lessons.

Give me an example. One game I didn't expect to see was Nightreign.

Re: Amazon Ring's lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance

#326

Post by frm88 » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 10:13 AM UTC

nobody9999 wrote: post #324

frm88 wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those folks are assuredly not going to do anything more than the bare minimum (and not necessarily because they don't want to) because their delivery quotas don't allow for anything more than dumping a package on a porch (or in an unattended apartment building lobby) and maybe ringing the doorbell/intercom. So, implement surveillance of all, not only for the fracture of a percent of dogs returned but also because the…

>So, implement surveillance of all, not only for the fracture of a percent of dogs returned but also because there are no functioning labour laws. Right. Got it. (/s) Why stop there? People actually lie once in a while and say they never received a package that was supposedly delivered. We need to put those cameras inside peoples' homes, especially in the bathrooms and bedrooms where they hide the packages that were…

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/labour

Re: Amazon Ring's lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance

#327

Post by ndsipa_pomu » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 10:14 AM UTC

rpdillon wrote: post #265

slg wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is all intentional. The film is emulating the type of film that would be produced by this fascist regime, of course it isn't going to include proof of the fascists being wrong. But we also don't see any evidence in support of their claims of an "existential threat" beyond the fascists claiming there is one. And since it's from the fascist perspective, the lack of evidence justifying their actions ends up support…

For fellow HN'ers reading this epically long back and forth: sig appears to be taking the more mainstream stance that Starship Troopers is satire. This is reinforced my popular interpretations from, say, Wikipedia, but refuted by others, like say, IMDB. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers_(film) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120201/ mrob is part of the coalition (that included many critics when the film w…

I had no idea that people seriously think that the film isn't satire - I thought it was just people who had barely paid attention to it and weren't really giving it much thought that didn't spot the satirical elements throughout the film.

They're even wearing fascist style uniforms and all the commercials are so over-the-top.

Maybe part of it is due to how it was promoted - in the UK, it was promoted as satire, but I believe the USA promoted it as a straight action film.

from: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/anti-fascist-leanings-paul-verh...

> “I remember coming out of Heathrow and seeing the posters, which were great,” Verhoeven added. “They were just stupid lines about war from the movie. I thought, ‘Finally, someone knows how to promote this.’ In America, they promoted it as just another bang-bang-bang movie.”

Re: Amazon Ring's lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance

#328

Post by alex43578 » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 10:30 AM UTC

duskdozer wrote: post #277

alex43578 wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Ring camera pointed at a sidewalk or street is the clearest example of legally allowed filming in public I could imagine.

>legally allowed People aren't arguing about what the law states.

"Recording their neighbors without their consent" implies that consent was ever expected or required. You're walking down a public street and have no expectation of privacy in the US, and correspondingly 0 legal or even "ethical" recourse.

Re: Amazon Ring's lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance

#329

Post by mbork_pl » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 10:43 AM UTC

foobarian wrote: post #152

koolba wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The only way Batman remains a "good guy" in the eyes of the audience is by destroying the entire thing once he's done. A key part of that is when he tells Alfred that he did not even trust himself with that level of surveillance and coded it to only grant access to Alfred. Further, Alfred agrees to aid Batman by accessing the data but simultaneously tenders his resignation. I doubt Amazon has anyone like Alfred in…

These kinds of resignations are interesting. The character is such a good protagonist, he resigns rather than do Bad Thing. But that pretty much guarantees the boss will hire someone more pliable. Why not instead swallow the pride and do Bad Thing but with some level of moderation? That would surely be a better outcome overall. The argument is that it would destroy the character's honor or whatever. But that is also…

Are you Saruman by any chance?

Re: Amazon Ring's lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance

#330

Post by nobody9999 » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC

frm88 wrote: post #326

nobody9999 wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So, implement surveillance of all, not only for the fracture of a percent of dogs returned but also because there are no functioning labour laws. Right. Got it. (/s) Why stop there? People actually lie once in a while and say they never received a package that was supposedly delivered. We need to put those cameras inside peoples' homes, especially in the bathrooms and bedrooms where they hide the packages that were…

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/labour

Touche!

I will say that we don't use those limey flavoured spellings over here across the pond, nor do we allow such things in our adverts either, even if we're filling our caravans up with petrol.

It's an honour to be singled out for this, especially as I was whinging about it. ;)

https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=labor