Amazon unveiled a new tracking system at a time when Americans are debating the value of persistent surveillance.

A Super Bowl ad for Ring security cameras boasting how the company can scan neighborhoods for missing dogs has prompted some customers to remove or even destroy their cameras.

Online, videos of people removing or destroying their Ring cameras have gone viral. One video posted by Seattle-based artist Maggie Butler shows her pulling off her porch-facing camera and flipping it the middle finger.

Butler explained that she originally bought the camera to protect against package thefts, but decided the pet-tracking system raised too many concerns about government access to data.

“They aren’t just tracking lost dogs, they’re tracking you and your neighbors,” Butler said in the video that has more than 3.2 million views.

  • Psythik@lemmy.worldEnglish
    45·
    9 days ago

    I honestly didn’t know what they were thinking with that commercial. Why would you proudly advertise that you’ve built a massive surveillance network, during one of the most-watched yearly televised events too for that matter? Did they seriously believe that there wouldn’t be a major backlash? I mean I appreciate the blunt honesty in that commercial so I’ll give them credit for that.

    • Trad Wench@thelemmy.clubEnglish
      20·
      9 days ago

      Tbh I think the people at the top still haven’t caught up with the rapid changing sentiments among the population. My zero-tech-savy retired mother in-law was talking to me about Palantir the other day.

    • baggachipz@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      12·
      8 days ago

      My guess is that since Ring has a history of well-known collaborations with police and ICE, they wanted to re-frame their evil surveillance network as a way to save a puppy. Instead, lots of uninformed normies suddenly realized what those cameras are capable of, and had a huge negative reaction given the state of things.

    • groats_survivor@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      9 days ago

      Because in 3 weeks most people will forget about it. It’s brazen. They’ll still be the biggest doorbell company in America

    • Kilgore Trout@feddit.itEnglish
      3·
      9 days ago

      They product does exactly what their customers want. Just the latter had not realised the implications for their own privacy, before the commercial, apparently.

    • FatVegan@leminal.spaceEnglish
      2·
      8 days ago

      People are really fucking stupid to buy their products in the forst place. So that’s what they were thinking and they were right.