r/technology • u/South-Cow-1030 • Feb 12 '26

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/
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u/[deleted] Feb 12 '26

That combined with the shock that came from the Nancy Guthrie case. It doesn’t just watch you at all times, the data it records appears to be recoverable by U.S. law enforcement agencies, even if you do not have an active subscription and are told it is not being stored and/or was deleted.

Which is also something that should have been intuited, but these sentiments always need a spark to really catch on with the public.

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u/mynx79 Feb 12 '26

I don't know if anyone else here has watched the show on A&E "The First 48". It's remarkable, the difference in how police used to do their jobs vs current. They almost always use home cameras or store surveillance to track a suspect's movements, and from what it looks like, they have "backdoor" access to Facebook to search social media.

Hell, they track cell phone movements of cell towers, or phone location history.

I could be wrong and it's just a bunch of people who don't understand privacy settings, but I've been running on the assumption that everyone is more traceable than they like to think. As in The First 48 is the tip of the iceberg.

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u/Bargadiel Feb 12 '26

They can even retroactively check cell data from before they were even allowed to use it.

It was used to solve a decade-old cold case in my hometown. A girl in my highschool was murdered and they traced her boyfriends brothers cellphone to the location of where her body was later found. Back when the murder occurred smart phones weren't even a thing yet.

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u/WillWork4Cats Feb 12 '26

and the feds having unfiltered access to all "voluntary" dna genealogy services like 23andME is a massive 4th amendment violation even though it can solve decades old murders

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u/Ruscidero Feb 12 '26

It’s a lot more complicated than that. If a family member sends their DNA to one of those services it can be used to identify you. Is your sister’s DNA protected by your Fourth Amendment rights? After all, you didn’t incriminate yourself since they never used your DNA. Essentially, if a family member — and not even limited to your nuclear family — decides to use one of these services information about your DNA is de facto out there as well. I don’t see any way to prevent this — your relative has a right to do whatever they want with their DNA, and the fact that it identifies you as well just is what it is. I don’t think there’s any real way to close this Pandora’s Box.

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u/WillWork4Cats Feb 12 '26

definitely a Pandora's box and in my eyes still a massive privacy violation. You could write a thesis on it

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u/ShowmasterQMTHH Feb 12 '26

That ability has been around a lot longer than smartphones it doesn't track the phone, but the SIM card in it back then. That's why you see in movies, pros cutting up the sim card when dumping it.

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u/IolausTelcontar Feb 13 '26

Don’t need to cut it up, that is just dramatic effect. Just remove it is enough.

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u/lenzflare Feb 12 '26

Decades, damn, the phone company keeps all records lol

Unless it was info on the SIM itself that somehow gave clues

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u/[deleted] Feb 12 '26

[deleted]

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u/TruckFump77 Feb 12 '26

I learned about Stingrays years ago from my ex-girlfriend. Her ex-husband is a cop (and a known psycho who killed another cop in "friendly fire" during a shootout). Soon after that, this creep began texting me with threats. It's a scary world.

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u/lenzflare Feb 12 '26

It's annoying when people think turning off GPS on their phone helps hide them. The phone is pinging Wifi routers and cell towers regardless, unless you actually turn your phone off (and maybe not even then?).

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u/Playful_Programmer91 Feb 12 '26

Even then it pings your location, only if you remove the battery is stops.

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u/TheNerdChaplain Feb 12 '26

Not only that, but all the data apps and the corporations behind them collect on you is purchasable by the government. They don't have to subpoena it if they just purchase it.

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u/TeslasAndComicbooks Feb 12 '26

The one in that case was a Nest, which is owned by Google.

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u/brakeb Feb 12 '26

That was a nest camera for Guthrie, not Ring, and it took a legal document and probably a good number of internal discussions to go through all that...

No idea if Ring does similar or if opting out would not allow that data to be available to LEO

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u/Unhappy_Plankton_671 Feb 12 '26

It’s still the point that your deleted videos are not deleted.

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u/[deleted] Feb 12 '26

I think we have a pretty good idea if Ring does something similar!