Street-facing doorbell cameras on public sidewalks are in my opinion the worse problem. Pedestrians didn't opt-in. Operators of these cameras (both the buyer and the vendor) should be subject to the same legal obligations as other data collectors.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21889837
Disclaimer: This is not an invitation to do such a thing. Be mindful of laws in your jurisdiction and ethics of this.
GDPR is on your side here as well. I had to consent to the surveillance cameras when I joined my local gym.
Also at our workplace we had to consent to being taped by the main entry surveillance cameras and the company is not allowed to view the footage, like for performance reviews :), unless a theft or crime has occured.
Either put up a visual barrier or move.
This sort of thing is why I consider products like Ring to be terrible and highly antisocial. I would avoid even going into a neighborhood that had many of these installed, let alone live in one.
Also, am I the only one who thinks that the prevalence of these devices in a neighborhood is a very strong indicator that the neighborhood is sketchy -- either it has a lot of crime, or it has a lot of very paranoid people.
saying people are paranoid for having cameras is ridiculous, people also have security systems. It's a deterrent and doesn't necessarily mean high crime. if you live in Major City like I have my whole life, it's just a fact of life that you're going to want stuff like this.
If it's just you with a local server, then I only have to worry about you. If it's going to someone else's server, then I have to worry about them as well. And in the case of Ring specifically, that someone else is Amazon -- which is even more concerning.
> shouldn't people have the right to set up surveillance on their own house for protection and deterrence?
Sure, I never said otherwise. I have a surveillance system myself (on my own local servers), but I take great pains to ensure that no cameras are capturing anything that isn't my property.
> It's a deterrent and doesn't necessarily mean high crime.
I never said that it automatically means a high crime area. It's just highly suggestive of it. If it's a low crime area, far fewer people would feel the need for this sort of thing.
> if you live in Major City like I have my whole life, it's just a fact of life that you're going to want stuff like this.
No, it's not. I've lived in a number of major cities, and have never felt the need to point cameras at my neighbor's houses or the street.
> At the core of Ring, and guiding every action we take, is respect for the privacy and security of our neighbors
> Nobody can view your video recordings unless you allow it
Sounds pretty straightforward.
Send Ring's legal dept a letter telling them you don't allow it (privacy@ring.com, then certified mail when they ignore you the first time).