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Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash

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Re: Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash

#41

Post by kstrauser »

dgxyz wrote: post #18
ToucanLoucan wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. Anyone got alternatives? I love the convenience of a video doorbell but I really really would like to not help the police or ICE or anyone else for that matter unless I decide it's a good idea.

We've got an analogue video phone on our apartment. Works flawlessly. No digital path other than the ring selection. Has a flat monochrome CRT which is kind of cool. I made it half a century without a doorbell in my phone. I don't need it now.

Eh. I have a Logitech Circle View, and appreciate seeing whether it's a delivery person or some rando selling vacuum cleaners. It also pops up a picture of the person on our TV and chimes my phone, so even if we have the music up or we're not at home, we can still see that someone's there. I like these.

Re: Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash

#42

Post by marricks »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #16
murillians wrote: post #8

Meaning they’ll wait until about June and then quietly roll it out

Yep. Anyone got alternatives? I love the convenience of a video doorbell but I really really would like to not help the police or ICE or anyone else for that matter unless I decide it's a good idea.

Normal door bells are pretty great and have less overhead and maintenance...

All tech puts it's best foot forward, some of it's really nifty, but a camera on every street corner is always going to pose more risks than it's worth IMO...

It's work to go back to the old ways but I think this is one we step we should really all take.

Re: Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash

#43

Post by i_love_retros »

LazyMans wrote: post #40
ToucanLoucan wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. Anyone got alternatives? I love the convenience of a video doorbell but I really really would like to not help the police or ICE or anyone else for that matter unless I decide it's a good idea.

None of these agencies get your video data without your consent. The feature was designed so they have an easy way to present you the request for footage. Unfortunately a portion of the information getting circulated is the complete opposite.

Doesn't matter, unless you're an asshole you shouldn't continue to give money to companies like Ring that partner with ICE or Flock.

I'm not an asshole so I cancelled my subscription.

Re: Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash

#44

Post by syntheticnature »

doctor_radium wrote: post #26
dgxyz wrote: post #6

This is a temporary rollback while there’s a choice to speak against it. Cloud connected doorbells must die as well as dragnet surveillance.

Agreed, but this would then inconvenience millions of non-techies. Could a solution be forcing Amazon (and Google and Flock and...) to open their backend software either for self-hosting or for running on somebody else's "cloud"? So subscribing to such a device isn't that different from getting web hosting from Dreamhost or Hetzner? Maybe there's a host or IP field in the settings that users can easily change?

If there was an IP setting users could change, all the self-hosting etc. forums would be talking about how to change it instead of explaining other options. I'd expect not just fixed hosts and an ecosystem dependent on their proprietary protocols, but also pinned certificates and secure boot so you can't change any of it.

N.B. Flock isn't really targeting the consumer market.

Re: Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash

#45

Post by yndoendo »

baby_souffle wrote: post #38
ToucanLoucan wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. Anyone got alternatives? I love the convenience of a video doorbell but I really really would like to not help the police or ICE or anyone else for that matter unless I decide it's a good idea.

> Yep. Anyone got alternatives? The self-hosted and home-automation and home-assistant subreddits are _full_ of discussion threads on this. The good news is that you have a TON of options to pick from. The bad news is that they're all deficient in one way or another so you really do have to spend a bit of time to figure out who executes best on the things you care most about. If you don't mind the lock-in, Unifi is n…

Are there any such systems for general users that don't want to manage or maintain such systems?

Alternatives really need to be for the masses that have little Knowles in server hosting.

This is one reason I invest in Linux Smartphone company's that are work towards a clean solution for the masses. Daily drivers that are satisfactory for us build the stepping stones to walk to the alternative.

Re: Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash

#46

Post by righthand »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #16
murillians wrote: post #8

Meaning they’ll wait until about June and then quietly roll it out

Yep. Anyone got alternatives? I love the convenience of a video doorbell but I really really would like to not help the police or ICE or anyone else for that matter unless I decide it's a good idea.

Yi cameras are supposed to be local if you dont get a subscription.

Re: Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash

#47

Post by jayofdoom »

lightingthedark wrote: post #37
ToucanLoucan wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. Anyone got alternatives? I love the convenience of a video doorbell but I really really would like to not help the police or ICE or anyone else for that matter unless I decide it's a good idea.

I have a Reolink doorbell. It records to a SD card and works great with my Home Assistant setup. So much better than the Ring it replaced.

Hard agree. I have their doorbell and some of the wifi light fixtures (that go into mains power). They integrate great with home assistant and record locally.

Re: Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash

#48

Post by sneak »

> Following intense backlash to its partnership with Flock Safety, a surveillance technology company that works with law enforcement agencies, Ring has announced it is canceling the integration.

Ring (owned by Amazon, who runs a private airgapped AWS region for the CIA onsite at Langley) also works with law enforcement agencies.

Re: Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash

#49

Post by jszymborski »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #16
murillians wrote: post #8

Meaning they’ll wait until about June and then quietly roll it out

Yep. Anyone got alternatives? I love the convenience of a video doorbell but I really really would like to not help the police or ICE or anyone else for that matter unless I decide it's a good idea.

Reolink has doorbell cameras[0] that you can keep disconnected from the internet. They also have some pretty useful local recording hubs if self-hosting is not your deal[1].

[0] https://reolink.com/ca/product/reolink-video-doorbell-wifi/

[1] https://reolink.com/ca/product/reolink-home-hub/

Re: Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash

#50

Post by array_key_first »

LazyMans wrote: post #40
ToucanLoucan wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. Anyone got alternatives? I love the convenience of a video doorbell but I really really would like to not help the police or ICE or anyone else for that matter unless I decide it's a good idea.

None of these agencies get your video data without your consent. The feature was designed so they have an easy way to present you the request for footage. Unfortunately a portion of the information getting circulated is the complete opposite.

Yes, for now. But ultimately you have no control or say over these features because you do not own the software or data. You must have pure blind faith that this will be the way it continues to work.

If other people are cool with doing things without any reasons and based on pure trust, that's on them. But that's not gonna be me

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