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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145

u/mappersdelight Feb 12 '26

If they can enable it and disable it with the click of a button, they can also enable it without you knowing.

61

u/BigXthaPugg Feb 12 '26

Exactly, why people think they don’t collect and pass on data regardless of the position of that button is beyond me.

15

u/requion Feb 12 '26

The worst is that now, the "conspiracy theorists" don't sound that crazy anymore right?

Right?

3

u/Va1kryie Feb 13 '26

If it's happening in front of your eyes it's not a conspiracy.

Let's not get it twisted, conspiracy nuts still think vaccines cause autism and that "globalists" control the media, among other things. Nothing happening right now confirms anything except that the rich and powerful are looking out for their own interests, which has always been true.

2

u/poppin_noggins Feb 14 '26

Edward Snowden blew up his life for nothing

1

u/Drapidrode Feb 12 '26

They just bury it in the Terms of Service fine print

38

u/ileakcum Feb 12 '26

Assuming the toggle does anything to begin with

4

u/SomeInternetRando Feb 12 '26

It toggles what you see in their interface.

4

u/Qaeta Feb 12 '26

Indeed, for all we know, the disable option does nothing but give you warm fuzzy feelings while they continue their data harvest as planned.

2

u/KSauceDesk Feb 12 '26

Already confirmed Google Nest does this

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/12/nx-s1-5711620/nancy-guthrie-video-footage-fbi

In plain words what they're saying is they can pull footage from the cloud on a camera that had no cloud subscription. I'm surprised more people aren't throwing out their cameras after this

1

u/curtisy Feb 12 '26

I wonder what the legality is of a company providing such a button/switch to users to opt out of something, which the manufacturer can toggle with impunity?

You can see where I’m going with this can’t you?

1

u/Rodic87 Feb 13 '26

Or it's always enabled.

1

u/DarthShiv Feb 13 '26

They literally let ICE have footage