Do you have a Ring doorbell?

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I wrote a post a few months ago about getting a video doorbell. I went with Eufy as I refuse to pay a monthly subscription or risk my camera footage being used.

At the time there was a lot of talks about Ring making private deals with thousands of police departments to give them access to the private footage each Ring doorbell provides. Ring owners have to opt-in to supply footage but once they do, police departments have warrentless access to their camera and footage.

While I am not worried about being caught doing something illegal, it is disturbing having someone with unrestricted access to your property. Ring sells more than doorbell cameras and it won't be long until they are requesting access to internal cameras.

Recently it was announced Jackson, Mississippi will start a 45-day surveillance program to live stream all Ring doorbells that have consented to remote access of their device. There isn't much known on what they are trying to accomplish and why 45 days, I believe this is a move to see what they can get away with without a lot of kickback. Obviously the goal is to "find crimes", but if it is anything like the TSA they will do the complete opposite.

This is why I made it a point to not choose a video doorbell that works via a cloud service provider and is a stand alone device. I've been wanting a video doorbell for a while but it was only recently these options have been available.

Recently I saw a YouTube video pop up that Ubiquiti now has a similar stand alone device. It looks a lot better with better features and I already own Ubitquiti network devices. I will likely pick one up to swap out my Eufy solution.

I've been happy with the Eufy, but there are a few things I wish it did better. It doesn't have removable storage and you are limited to the 16 GB memory in the home base device. There is a small 2-4 second delay to open the camera screen. Frequently people arrive on your top doorstep before you are notified and recording starts. Otherwise it works really well and I have been happy with it. For Halloween they offered three spooky sounds you can play through the doorbell which was a big hit on Halloween.

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15 comments
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Over here, door bells are not common. We do it more of the traditional way.

One can only see houses using door bells especially one with camera if they go towards the highland area.

Early this year, it was the first time I saw a door with a
finger print scanner and iris scanner.

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I'm not sure what to feel about this, hopefully it's opt-in and not out..

My uncle has a ring doorbell and he will 100% not have heard about this..

Creepy times we live in, huh?

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Bonus: Amazon, RING's owner, also has facial recognition tech.

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Let me know how it goes when you get the Ubiquiti one, as I am in the market but fuck Ring and all the rest like it.

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I really don't trust Ring anymore after all they times their devices have been exploit, I certainly choose Ubiquiti over Ring as I have use many of there wireless access point and at this moment most of there hardware firewalls, great devices, nice post

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It's incredible how far technology goes, but in some cases, these are really recommended and good to be used. In my cases, paying rent on an apartment from a block with a few tens of such home places, it's literally useless, but when and if I'll ever have my own house I'll seriously think about buying this or security cameras :)

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(Edited)

We were looking into one, in the end though we opted for a Blink camera system to keep an eye on the press cars etc, and at present we're never really away from home, more so from today, the delay etc seems similar.

A ring doorbell or similar is next on the list as is more cameras, a camera doorbell would literally see the caller and a big hedge :) ooh the spooky themes sound good, thats what kept me playing Modern warfare for the last few weeks, a convoluted reply if ever there was one, thank you.

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I had been looking at the Remo+ when I was looking at doorbells. It does have cloud storage, but my hope was that because the brand is not as prevalent as Ring, it might not be as big of a target for hackers and the like. Now that you mention Ubiquiti has something in the works I will probably check that out. I have been on the fence about upgrading from my Netgear router to a Dream Machine for a while now. I would like something that can handle vLANS. I want to be able to separate my streaming traffic, data traffic, and IoT traffic (when I eventually add some of those devices).

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This is really a nice device to have at home base on security, its good you did a research on Ring before going for it. At this point others can be aware of what is in the market and how it affects them.

We have not had a reason to purchase security doors with camera because our location is guarded by security personnel

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I use Blue Iris security camera software and some cheap IP cameras off the internet that is excellent, cheap and stores everything locally (or where ever you want). Much cheaper, more flexible and more private.

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Would be even worse if you opted out of RING and they still retain video footage. I have a Ring ;(

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Do they do that? I was wondering if they opt'd you in without your permission, you wouldn't even know.

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(Edited)

I would think that's illegal.. I never signed anything. But with this world... I wouldn't put it past them. Updated terms.. oh you mean you missed the terms update.. ohwell! But then we have Alexa and Siri and whatever that is listening. My laptop could be listening. Eagle Eye. WHatever. Paranoia is for real criminals anyways. So let them listen.

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Ask Alexa

  • Alexa would you lie to me
  • Alexa are you recording my conversation
  • Alexa do you work for the government
  • Alexa are you connected to the cia
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