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Big Brother just got an upgrade. Starting December, Amazon’s Ring cameras will scan and recognize faces. Don’t want to be in their database? Too bad — walk past a Ring and your face can be stored... (lemmy.world)

submitted 7 months ago by jimmydoreisalefty@lemmy.world to c/aboringdystopia@lemmy.world

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Jason Bassler | @JasonBassler1

Big Brother just got an upgrade.

Starting December, Amazon’s Ring cameras will scan and recognize faces. Don’t want to be in their database? Too bad — walk past a Ring and your face can be stored, tagged, & analyzed without consent.

One step closer to total surveillance.

[Image: A Ring doorbell camera mounted on a brick wall. A digital overlay shows facial recognition scanning a person's face with grid lines. Text on the right reads "Amazon's Ring Adds Facial Recognition to Home Security" with additional text below.]

6:00 PM | Oct 4, 2025

Source: https://x.com/JasonBassler1/status/1974640686419857516

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[-] Naich@lemmings.world 22 points 7 months ago

This feels like it should be illegal in the EU.

[-] stoy@lemmy.zip 15 points 7 months ago

Swede here, our laws disallow private security cameras from filming public areas.

The law is so broad that it interfered with dashcams, disallowing them for years.

[-] Dave@lemmy.nz 3 points 7 months ago

That's really interesting. Is it specifically security cameras?

Can you generally take videos of people in public places? Photos?

[-] stoy@lemmy.zip 5 points 7 months ago

Normal cameras and video cameras are fine, the key point is that the camera should not be fixed for continuous monitoring of public spaces.

Dashcams were a grey area, most are fixed mounted to a car with the capability to continously record so at first only cameras you manually place and trigger when about to drive were permitted, then the law was loosened further, and now I believe they are permitted.

Now here we have an interesting fact about the Swedish court system, you can present any evidence regardless of if it was collected through legal or illegal means, and the court will decide on if they will accept it or not.

The illegal part only comes into play in a separate case where you have to stand trial for whatever illegal act you did.

[-] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I found this page explaining that it's not that it's illegal (necessarily, keep reading), but that there is a GDPR exemption for private property and if you're filming areas the public access then you need to comply with GDPR. The page says for dashcams you need to comply with GDPR as well.

This page says it's generally not allowed to record, but if you read the Swedish version it has a flow chart (that I can't read 😅).

What most interests me is that it keeps referring to the GDPR as the reason why you can't record public areas (or your neighbours). I'm not in Europe and don't know much about the GDPR but why is Sweden special with these rules, why aren't all countries in the European Union limiting the use of security cameras on public areas?

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[-] 20cello@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

Will it happen in Europe too?

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[-] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago

Americans are fucking weird, they piss and moan about speed and red light cameras, and claim they are unconstitutional. However, the Ring shit is good to go.

[-] shininghero@pawb.social 6 points 7 months ago

Ring cameras don't toss a fine at you for walking past them too quickly.

Also, where are people complaining about red light cameras, so I can avoid taking my bike or car anywhere near there? It's probably a vocal minority, but I'd prefer to know and cover my ass. Just in case.

[-] pulsewidth@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

Nah Ring cameras will just toss police to your door because you look loosely like a person of interest in a case.

Good think police visiting houses doesn't lead to the death of innocent people on the regular.

[-] zipzoopaboop@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 7 months ago

All of Ontario apparently

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[-] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 9 points 7 months ago

I went to my sister's house yesterday, she lived in a gated community and to visit i have to let them take a picture of my face and then scan the cam for access. i thought that's extremely obnoxious. This is far worst.

[-] xxce2AAb@feddit.dk 6 points 7 months ago

Yeah, no. I'd be inviting my sister to visit me instead.

[-] jaybone@lemmy.zip 3 points 7 months ago

Yeah this has to be super inconvenient for the residents. I imagine many delivery services, DoorDash, instacart, will refuse to do this bullshit. Forcing the resident to meet them at the gate, or just not receive service at all. I would be pressuring my HOA to end this policy.

[-] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 2 points 7 months ago

Not in US, but all those non-perishable deliveries will leave their stuff at the main gate guardhouse. Not sure about food though.

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[-] archchan@lemmy.ml 6 points 7 months ago

I'm losing my mind. Ring cameras everywhere, Flock cameras, ID/face verification, everything Google touches, airports, Tesla car cameras, every modern car actually, Meta glasses, Chat Control every year, the OSA, stores using facial recognition (and other tracking), social media billionaire shenanigans, Samsung installing Israeli spyware and putting ads on the fridges, fuck even the Windows 11+Chrome+iPhone combo I see in public. I could keep going. We could all keep going.

It's too much. Idk anymore. This post broke me a little.

[-] biofaust@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I am Italian and I have much fewer reasons to feel like you, but I still do and, although loving the friends I made there, I know I will never again set foot in the USA, since this comes from a culture of surveillance dating back more than a century.

I am actually offering temporary accomodation to any of my friends who may want to try their luck in the EU.

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[-] AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works 6 points 7 months ago

So what happens to images of your face when they're stored? Who tf really knows. We do know these oligarchs will literally try to exploit and profit from literally anything and everything they get access to.

Some countries that aren't treated like a state run corporation are actually letting citizens copyright their own faces for their protection.

Dutch MPs want citizens to own the copyright to their faces

[-] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 7 months ago

probably to use your face in AI image generation of a person.

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[-] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago

We need to normalize spray painting the lenses on these things, as well as painting "big brother" on doorways of those that own them. If you enable fascism, you should expect some minor vandalism.

[-] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

You could start by sending them a letter that informs them of this occuring and how it impacts the world around them before you skip straight to vandalism. I'm sure a lot of people just never considered the extent of that data that is being shared so much as they figured only they would have access to the footage.

[-] Sprocketfree@sh.itjust.works 2 points 7 months ago

Ugh... Idiots ruin everything. How can people not understand this? Just so fucking ignorant

[-] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

Sure, but then you're a suspect.

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[-] P00ptart@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

Ran into this one Halloween a few years ago. Fuckers had Halloween decorations out, seeming welcoming, and when my kid went up to the door they used their ring camera to make fun of him. Once society falls in the next year or two, that's where I'm going first.

[-] xia@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 7 months ago

I don't know if it is the same brand, but my morning walks are cheered on by an increasing chorus/wave of "hello, you are currently being recorded". Weird dystopian vibes.

[-] Aljernon@lemmy.today 4 points 7 months ago

We need an anti-camera movement in this country

[-] cmbabul@slrpnk.net 4 points 7 months ago

Add it to the list of shit we desperately need yesterday

[-] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 2 points 7 months ago

Bring back masking.

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[-] DNS@discuss.online 4 points 7 months ago

I really don't care what Amazon does with Ring's facial recognition. The populace doesnt give a fuck and trust me, I tried to give a damn but its like going up against a tide of stupidity that keeps smashing. No one bats an eye with Costco/WalMart/Target facial recognition software, let alone caring enough how companies like Apple sell your data or manipulate your wants/needs down to the pervasive marketing tactics that are threading the line of psyops.

Idiocracy came a lot sooner than expected and there is no closing that Pandora's box. I still try to refrain from and mask my digital footprint, but sadly with how how easily our data is passed around like a ladyboy aboard a navy ship, we're doomed

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[-] Confused_Emus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 7 months ago

Great, my downstairs neighbor has one of these things that everyone has to walk by when going in or out of the main building. Why she needs one in an apartment building with a locked main door that you have to unlock yourself for guests is a mystery to me.

[-] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Simple - Because she doesn't trust the strangers living in the building any more than the strangers on the outside. I don't blame her one bit. In my lifetime, I've seen countless stories of women being raped and/or murdered by other tenants and the complex 's own security.

In the olden days, before electricity, I used to be friendly with a neighbor, and she became convinced that someone was sneaking into her apartment when she was at work, and stealing her underwear and prescription meds. She took a day off because she was under the weather, and one of the maintenance guys, who was always overly-friendly, unlocked her door, and walked right in.

It turned out that he'd been warned about this before, and he was fired. But if she, or other neighbors, had Ring cameras, they would have caught on to him immediately.

[-] IzzyScissor@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago

A camera inside her apartment would have the same results without invading the privacy of every other tenant in the building.

[-] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 3 points 7 months ago

In that specific case, but most people want to identify people BEFORE they enter their promises. I'm not opening my door to any cops, for instance, unless they can slide a warrant under the door.

You are missing the point entirely. There are about a million reasonable reasons someone would want to have a doorbell camera, and they have every right to them. The owner of the camera isn't violating your privacy, AMAZON is doing that by collecting the data from a privately-owned source who hasn't given permission to hijack data from their device.

Don't be mad at the tenant for protecting their safety, be mad at Amazon for exploiting that reasonable fear, encouraging people to get Ring cameras, and then stealing the data they collect.

[-] stickly@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

Is it too much to ask for a doorbell camera to operate like a doorbell? We've had peepholes on doors that can be opened and checked when needed for years with no problem, why do we suddenly need constant surveillance of the public commons? This is also on the owner for buying into the scare tactics.

IMO it should be flat out illegal to have any permanent camera that monitors a public space. I don't consent to have a stalker track when I enter and leave my home, I won't consent to have a neighbor do the same.

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[-] Highlandcow@feddit.uk 3 points 7 months ago

Pray this isn't legal in the UK, under GDPR i don't think so but I'm not sure

[-] bilgamesch@feddit.org 4 points 7 months ago

Guess US-companies don't really care what's legal and what's not. They don't fear the repercussions of doing illegal shit. They just pay their fine - or they don't and nothing changes.

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[-] LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

My parents have one of these. 💀

Guess I'll be going into their place through the garage lmao

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[-] xxce2AAb@feddit.dk 3 points 7 months ago

Like I needed more reasons to never leave the fucking house.

[-] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 2 points 7 months ago

Welcome to the basement

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[-] stinky@redlemmy.com 2 points 7 months ago

Everyone is so obsessed with surveillance. My uncle has a Ring and even if I told him about this, he wouldn't care; he wants to know who walks past his house. Now the cops will know whether he lied to them because they can subpoena Ring for their records. People are literally giving away their rights for the convenience of not answering the fucking door

[-] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

The depressing part is that even if you don’t own or use Ring, you will be in their database because those cameras are everywhere. The populace has completely given up all their privacy and have done it willingly.

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[-] Zetta@mander.xyz 1 points 7 months ago

The depressing part is local self hosted alternatives exist like Ubiquiti unifi, all their cameras store locally to a hard drive on your property with all local processing.

[-] Fedegenerate@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 7 months ago

Yup, cameras, should I set them up, will store locally. I don't think I want a camera on the lock though.

That article says that I, as a random bypasser, suffer all the disadvantages of Ring but without any of the benefits of owning one. I'm still not getting a ring though.

[-] michaelmrose@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

Given any large database this is going to be a massive problem.

Did someone steal your package?

Do you want to know who did it?

Will you settle for knowing which of the 385 people in the country look like your villain? Some of them may even be close enough to be falsely accused!

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[-] cdf12345@lemmy.zip 2 points 7 months ago

Pretty sure this will be illegal in Illinois too

[-] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 4 points 7 months ago

2 years later: “Amazon settles lawsuit with state of Illinois for 3 toothpicks and a stick of gum after profiting eleventy trillion dollars from breaking the law. Amazon admits no fault in the settlement.”

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[-] Defectus@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

This isn't legal where I live. It's not allowed to record public spaces

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this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2025

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