Amazon Ring Cashes in on Techno-Authoritarianism and Mass Surveillance
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Or you could choose an option that does neither. Why feed the autocrats at all?
eh, you might have a spare day to source a completely uncompromised camera and find someone in a trusted neutral country who runs an unproblematic hosting service and configure a system to do offsite storage in a secure way, but I've got other stuff going on. If you can source me a reasonable alternative I'm happy to use it when it comes time to renew my subscription.
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I bought a cheap Chinese security camera for a fraction of the cost of a Ring and signed up for their cloud storage system. I'm more comfortable with the Chinese government being able to access footage of my backyard, than the current US administration.
Not too long ago, that statement would have sounded controversial or even crazy. Nowadays though, I’m shocked how much sense it makes to me. Never thought that I would agree with something like that.
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eh, you might have a spare day to source a completely uncompromised camera and find someone in a trusted neutral country who runs an unproblematic hosting service and configure a system to do offsite storage in a secure way, but I've got other stuff going on. If you can source me a reasonable alternative I'm happy to use it when it comes time to renew my subscription.
Nah you're just being lazy. Its really not that hard. At least be ashamed man instead of this defeatist bullshit.
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eh, you might have a spare day to source a completely uncompromised camera and find someone in a trusted neutral country who runs an unproblematic hosting service and configure a system to do offsite storage in a secure way, but I've got other stuff going on. If you can source me a reasonable alternative I'm happy to use it when it comes time to renew my subscription.
Besides that I would trust a Chinese cloud way more than a murican one (I'm non-US), this really is a lazy excuse. This apathy paired with ignorance or being technically challenged is the main reason dystopian shit like ring even sells at all. Or all those silly "smart" assistants like Alexa.
Phrases like "renewing my subscription" in context of a fucking doorbell itself sounds so absurd to me.
E.g. A raspberry (or the likes) with some run-of-the-mill ip-cam, some wifi-doorbell and AgentDVR would do the same for even less moneyz. And just for you, not the whole world. Wouldn't take more than some hours of setup.
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Besides that I would trust a Chinese cloud way more than a murican one (I'm non-US), this really is a lazy excuse. This apathy paired with ignorance or being technically challenged is the main reason dystopian shit like ring even sells at all. Or all those silly "smart" assistants like Alexa.
Phrases like "renewing my subscription" in context of a fucking doorbell itself sounds so absurd to me.
E.g. A raspberry (or the likes) with some run-of-the-mill ip-cam, some wifi-doorbell and AgentDVR would do the same for even less moneyz. And just for you, not the whole world. Wouldn't take more than some hours of setup.
Phrases like “renewing my subscription” in context of a fucking doorbell itself sounds so absurd to me.
Why? It's logical to want your video footage held offsite so that burglars don't just take the device you're storing the footage of them on. Which means paying someone to store it for you. Which means a subscription. Even if you're running AgentDVR on an offsite server that you control, you're still paying money to the hosting company.
A raspberry (or the likes) with some run-of-the-mill ip-cam, some wifi-doorbell and AgentDVR would do the same for even less moneyz. And just for you, not the whole world. Wouldn’t take more than some hours of setup.
Wow. Do you have any idea what you sound like there?
(also, it's not even true on its own terms. A raspberry pi plus all the components and equipment necessary to set up what you're describing would be easily over $100, I paid $19 for my Chinese internet camera)
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Not too long ago, that statement would have sounded controversial or even crazy. Nowadays though, I’m shocked how much sense it makes to me. Never thought that I would agree with something like that.
Yeah. It's crazy. I would choose neither because I can DIY something secure but for non-technical folks in North America today, the Chinese gov't having your video is safer than a private US corporation. I didn't imagone I could make this judgement back in 2022.
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eh, you might have a spare day to source a completely uncompromised camera and find someone in a trusted neutral country who runs an unproblematic hosting service and configure a system to do offsite storage in a secure way, but I've got other stuff going on. If you can source me a reasonable alternative I'm happy to use it when it comes time to renew my subscription.
Just buy a Reolink Doorbell. Pop in an SD card. Put in on your wifi or LAN and access it with your browser. You're done. It's all local. There's an optional app that does need an external server, but that's optional and there is no subscription.
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Nah you're just being lazy. Its really not that hard. At least be ashamed man instead of this defeatist bullshit.
What you're saying makes me think you aren't aware of the technical knowledge of your typical smart doorbell or cam user, which is basically little to none.
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Phrases like “renewing my subscription” in context of a fucking doorbell itself sounds so absurd to me.
Why? It's logical to want your video footage held offsite so that burglars don't just take the device you're storing the footage of them on. Which means paying someone to store it for you. Which means a subscription. Even if you're running AgentDVR on an offsite server that you control, you're still paying money to the hosting company.
A raspberry (or the likes) with some run-of-the-mill ip-cam, some wifi-doorbell and AgentDVR would do the same for even less moneyz. And just for you, not the whole world. Wouldn’t take more than some hours of setup.
Wow. Do you have any idea what you sound like there?
(also, it's not even true on its own terms. A raspberry pi plus all the components and equipment necessary to set up what you're describing would be easily over $100, I paid $19 for my Chinese internet camera)
Why do I need the footage offsite? Because the burglar might've stolen the server/raspberry?
I actually have my server storage hidden, if that would even be on the radar of a thief, which I really doubt.But even if, an encrypted storage of your own choosing still beats random access by who-the-fuck-even-knows.
OK, granted, your 19-moneyz-solution is financially hard to beat, and probably no Chinese really gives a rats ass about your data.
But even the thought that some random cloud-admin might just take a peek out of boredom...ugh. But OK, I'm a very private person.A proper solution that does not suck probably costs a bit more than a ring (dunno what they cost though), but if one owns a house, one probably has a few spare hundreds or thousands for a secure surveillance.
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What you're saying makes me think you aren't aware of the technical knowledge of your typical smart doorbell or cam user, which is basically little to none.
And exactly this behavior ("I have no clue about the thing I will do, but I'll do it anyway without educating myself prior") is what makes everything suck more and more because it always gets adapted to the lowest common denominator.
We're only still alive because people need licenses to drive cars or fly planes.
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And exactly this behavior ("I have no clue about the thing I will do, but I'll do it anyway without educating myself prior") is what makes everything suck more and more because it always gets adapted to the lowest common denominator.
We're only still alive because people need licenses to drive cars or fly planes.
But this maybe implies that there's a possibility to change this behaviour. Which is infeasible. For many of the same reasons why we don't have people specialize in more than a couple of areas.If you're not implying that and you're just saying that in vacuum, then yeah sure. That said it's not the only reaaon why things suck more and changing this behaviour is not the only way to not have things suck, For example a government in a more democratic system might serve its citizens more than its corporations and ban these practices.
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Ring founder Jamie Siminoff is back at the helm of the surveillance doorbell company, and with him is the surveillance-first-privacy-last approach that made Ring one of the most maligned tech devices. Not only is the company reintroducing new versions of old features which would allow police to request footage directly from Ring users, it is also introducing a new feature that would allow police to request live-st
I mean, people are not being forced to buy this shit. So it’s on the idiots who think they have nothing to hide. Just Google something like “why are people ok with cameras inside their house “ and you’ll see many many people basically saying “don’t care, I have nothing to hide, everyone has a pussy/dick”
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And exactly this behavior ("I have no clue about the thing I will do, but I'll do it anyway without educating myself prior") is what makes everything suck more and more because it always gets adapted to the lowest common denominator.
We're only still alive because people need licenses to drive cars or fly planes.
Its just sheer laziness. These people are dragging our entire society down because they can't spend 30 minutes to read the manual. This should be shameful unjustifiable behavior.
Betting 100% that the same people are calling someone else lazy every week without any self awareness.
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But this maybe implies that there's a possibility to change this behaviour. Which is infeasible. For many of the same reasons why we don't have people specialize in more than a couple of areas.If you're not implying that and you're just saying that in vacuum, then yeah sure. That said it's not the only reaaon why things suck more and changing this behaviour is not the only way to not have things suck, For example a government in a more democratic system might serve its citizens more than its corporations and ban these practices.
What? We can't make people read setup manual for 30minutes? Might as well stop living now because whats the point of our society if we are defeated by a pamphlet?
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I mean, people are not being forced to buy this shit. So it’s on the idiots who think they have nothing to hide. Just Google something like “why are people ok with cameras inside their house “ and you’ll see many many people basically saying “don’t care, I have nothing to hide, everyone has a pussy/dick”
We still need to protect the idiots. Thats why we're banning asbestos and have safety codes. How is this any different?
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Just buy a Reolink Doorbell. Pop in an SD card. Put in on your wifi or LAN and access it with your browser. You're done. It's all local. There's an optional app that does need an external server, but that's optional and there is no subscription.
Ok, but one of the most important use cases is non-local access.
If I'm at home I can just go to the door.
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Ring founder Jamie Siminoff is back at the helm of the surveillance doorbell company, and with him is the surveillance-first-privacy-last approach that made Ring one of the most maligned tech devices. Not only is the company reintroducing new versions of old features which would allow police to request footage directly from Ring users, it is also introducing a new feature that would allow police to request live-st
So, what are people using to get:
- good quality streaming
- doorbell alert
- motion alerts
- local and remote access
- recording storage
Currently using Ring (outside of America) and looking to migrate away. There are some nice other features like distinguishing motion vs people vs vehicles that are nice to have but can live without.
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I mean, people are not being forced to buy this shit. So it’s on the idiots who think they have nothing to hide. Just Google something like “why are people ok with cameras inside their house “ and you’ll see many many people basically saying “don’t care, I have nothing to hide, everyone has a pussy/dick”
The cops can come to them to get video on you. So you’re impacted.
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So, what are people using to get:
- good quality streaming
- doorbell alert
- motion alerts
- local and remote access
- recording storage
Currently using Ring (outside of America) and looking to migrate away. There are some nice other features like distinguishing motion vs people vs vehicles that are nice to have but can live without.
It's solved tech and there are hundreds of alternatives so you can definitely find something local. I've heard Netatmo recommended for Europeans (French, gdpr compliant)
Smart Outdoor Security Camera | Netatmo
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Netatmo (www.netatmo.com)
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Ok, but one of the most important use cases is non-local access.
If I'm at home I can just go to the door.
Wireguard/tailscale in?
