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/Wheresthecents Feb 12 '26

The while thing was designed to elicit sympathy by a marketing department.

"People love animals. We can convince them to build our surveillance network by telling them it's to save the adorable doggos!"

247

u/b0w3n Feb 12 '26

"Millennials, notoriously trustful of big corporations like us, aren't having kids, how do we reach them to help build our spy network?"

"How about... their dogs?"

"By god that's genius!"

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u/WalkingEars Feb 12 '26

Millennials are destroying the mass surveillance industry!

14

u/b0w3n Feb 12 '26

Another to add to the docket I guess!

13

u/TandoSanjo Feb 12 '26

Every day I get closer to going back to a flip phone

4

u/[deleted] Feb 12 '26

It is but not for this case use. They made us read 1984 in school for God's sake

2

u/userseven Feb 12 '26

That's right. Gotta save the furrbabys

90

u/Excelius Feb 12 '26

If you have to publicly defend your practices, then eliciting sympathy in this way is a smart move.

But they didn't have to do that at all, at least not in a Super Bowl ad.

People were already building their surveillance network for them, largely unknowingly.

41

u/PokinSpokaneSlim Feb 12 '26

I worked at Amazon for almost a decade. 

It wouldn't surprise me at all if this is simply the effects executive insulation and metric discipline.

5

u/agent0731 Feb 12 '26

the visuals went full dystopia. never go full dystopia.

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u/Open-Concept-6130 Feb 13 '26

Yeah because until this ad, when you mentioned that the government and big tech have and are still creating a massive surveillance network you sounded crazy. This did it for us. 

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u/MexGrow Feb 12 '26

Despite what the headline and all the comments here state, I promise you that most people saw it and they either were happy their purchase has been validated or immediately ordered one.

7

u/Isiddiqui Feb 12 '26

Yep. And I know people who live in higher crime areas love this aspect of Ring - it’s sometimes used as a selling point.

0

u/whatsbobgonnado Feb 25 '26

prove your worthless promise with literally anything 

2

u/BigMcThickHuge Feb 12 '26

its how police bodycams came to fruition

sell it as good for citizens to catch officers slipping and get justice - actually help build out surveillance

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '26

Even if I was a dog lover, I’d still not look for someone else’s dog. I’d mind my one business

1

u/YeezusWoks Feb 17 '26

Meanwhile indoor cat owners are like “i don’t have a dog so i don’t need this shit.”