They wrote: Those are strong words, but he’s not alone in thinking them. A growing contingent of civil rights advocates, surveillance experts, and pundits are working to raise awareness about the potential dangers of Ring’s doorbell cameras. This indicates that privacy advocates are losing the battle against ubiquitous surveillance, something many feel could destroy the bedrock of democracy. One of the biggest concerns with Ring cameras is that people who choose not to install one or participate in the local surveillance network (a connected community software system called “Neighborhoods” that gives police backdoor access to users’ footage) can’t choose to opt out. These concerns, coupled with other red flags (Ring footage ends up on contractors’ servers in countries such as Ukraine, the Ring app is loaded with trackers, etc.), seem to indicate that Ring cameras are a threat to privacy at best and a danger to society and democracy at worst. Read next: Ring’s Android app reportedly sends data to third-party trackers
