Amazon’s doorbell product Ring announced Thursday it is ending its partnership with a surveillance firm after a controversial Super Bowl ad sparked privacy concerns.

The Ring ad featured the company’s Search Party feature, an AI tool that allows users to receive feeds from other cameras related to certain visual cues. The ad depicted a search for a lost dog, but viewers quickly raised alarms about the possibility of this tool being used to track humans.

Flock Safety, the surveillance firm, is not connected with the Search Party tool, and the company’s Thursday termination announcement makes no mention of the ad.

EFF:

"...The New York Times reported that Meta is considering adding face recognition technology to its smart glasses. According to an internal Meta document, the company may launch the product “during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns.” ..."

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/02/seven-billion-reasons-facebook-abandon-its-face-recognition-plans

#Facebook #Meta #privacy #bigbrother #surveillance

Damn!

Sometimes, voting with your wallet still works in 2026!

Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash

https://www.theverge.com/news/878447/ring-flock-partnership-canceled?utm_content=bufferff275&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bsky.app&utm_campaign=verge_social

#Ring #Amazon #Cameras #Flock #AI #Surveillance #Tech

This cursed idea must be stopped. No matter how faceblind you are and might want this as a party trick, computerized facial recognition for all makes the world an unsafe place for millions of people, especially those who use obscurity to hide from violent ex partners. The server will collect information. If not now, then later, and we will have made another panopticon. #surveillance

https://www.theverge.com/tech/878725/meta-facial-recognition-smart-glasses-name-tag-privacy-advoates

Ring Boasts About Power to Surveil Entire Neighborhoods

Ring doorbells can now surveil living beings throughout every neighborhood the devices might be found and their latest data sharing agreement with surveillance company Flock has many activists up in arms, as that startup has no qualms with working closely with federal agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

#FlockSafety #ice #ring #searchparty #pets #Amazon #surveillance #privacy #technology #tech

https://futurism.com/future-society/ring-doorbell-surveillance-dog

Should the images captured by 80,000 cameras surveilling Americans 24/7 be available to the public?

Flock Safety is an Orwellian mass surveillance program using artificial intelligence automatic license plate readers connected to a nationwide database. Reason covered it last year, and a lot has changed.

Gov Loses Hard Drives It Was Supposed to Put #ICE #DetentionCenter Footage On

The legal saga over #surveillance footage from within an #Immigration & Customs Enforcement #detention center in suburban #Chicago has reached new levels of absurdity, with the federal gov losing 3 hard drives it was supposed to put footage on, refusing to provide footage from 5 critical surveillance cameras, & delivering soundless video of a highly contested visit from #DHS Sec #KristiNoem

https://www.404media.co/government-loses-hard-drives-it-was-supposed-to-put-ice-detention-center-footage-on/

“Free” #Surveillance Tech Still Comes at a High & Dangerous Cost

The cost of “free” surveillance tools — like #ALPR , networked cameras, #faceRecognition , #drones & data aggregation & analysis platforms — is measured not in tax dollars, but in the erosion of #civilLiberties

The collection & sharing of our data quietly generates detailed records of people’s movements & associations that can be exposed, hacked, or repurposed without their knowledge or consent
#privacy

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/02/free-surveillance-tech-still-comes-high-and-dangerous-cost

EFF: No One, Including Our Furry Friends, Will Be Safer in Ring's Surveillance Nightmare

"...In the ad, disguised as a heartfelt effort to reunite the lost dogs of the country with their innocent owners, the company previewed future surveillance of our streets: a world where biometric identification could be unleashed from consumer devices to identify, track, and locate anything — human, pet, and otherwise...."

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/02/no-one-including-our-furry-friends-will-be-safer-rings-surveillance-nightmare-0

#privacy #ring #surveillance #bigbrother

Israeli exec at Paragon accidentally exposed Graphite spyware dashboard on LinkedIn—real-time access to Czech user's WhatsApp, Signal, geolocation, camera/mic via zero-click exploits 🔍

Post deleted, shows US agency sales after Trump lifted rights bans, fueling surveillance concerns ⚠️

🔗 https://news-pravda.com/world/2026/02/12/2071096.html

#TechNews #Privacy #Spyware #Security #Surveillance #Cybersecurity #Data #Encryption #Graphite #HumanRights #Tech #FOSS #DigitalRights #Cyber #Israel #Paragon #CzechRepublic #US #Trump

Discord mandates global age checks: face scan or ID required for full access, else “teen‑by‑default” restrictions. 🔐
Non‑verified users lose adult servers and features, despite past vendor ID data breaches. 🌐
Raises privacy concerns amid a shift toward gated internet access. 🧩

🔗 https://www.theverge.com/policy/876131/discord-age-verification-mandates-web-future

#TechNews #Privacy #SocialMedia #Discord #AI #Safety #Surveillance #DataProtection #OnlineSafety #Regulation #DigitalRights #Security #Internet #UserRights #BigTech

Tails –is a portable operating system that protects against #surveillance and #censorship
(EN/ ES/ ES/ FR/ IT/ PT/ RU)

"The amnesic incognito live system"
Anleitung zur Nutzung des Tails-Live-Betriebssystems für sichere Kommunikation, Recherche, Bearbeitung und Veröffentlichung sensibler Dokumente.

https://capulcu.blackblogs.org/neue-texte/bandi/

https://capulcu.blackblogs.org/ueber-uns/

Download:
https://tails.boum.org/

Alt...

Broschüren Cover zu sehen in der Mitte ein schwarzer Streifen mit einem Menschen welcher mit einem Fernglas nach vorne schaut. Beschriftung : Tails The amnestic incognito live system darunter steht in schwarz . Anleitung zur Nutzung des Tails-Live-Betriebssystems für sichere Kommunikation, Recherche, Bearbeitung und Veröffentlichung sensibler Dokumente 7. Auflage

Disconnect - keep the future unwritten!
"For years waves of a technological attack have been breaking over us - we misjudge this attack as a supposedly neutral "technological development" and willingly play along.
It's time for a more informed analysis, it's time to conspire against dramatically increasing foreign domination. This booklet is our first collection of discussions and ideas on this.
Our goal is to reject the smart grip on our sociality, creativity, autonomy - our lives. We are looking for ways of self-assertion.
(...)
"Technological change will be so rapid that human life will be irrevocably transformed." (Ray Kurzweil, chief engineer of Google)."

https://capulcu.blackblogs.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2015/12/BandIIen-2016-02-20_orig.pdf

https://capulcu.blackblogs.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2015/12/BandII-enbooklet.pdf

#Smart #technology #Antireport #Surveillance

US Border Patrol intelligence units will gain access to a face recognition tool built on billions of images scraped from the internet.

https://archive.is/3qywb #surveillance #facialRecognition

If you weren't already masking up at protests, now's the time to start.

US Border Patrol intelligence units will be gaining access to a face recognition tool built on billions of images scraped from the internet.

https://www.wired.com/story/cbp-signs-clearview-ai-deal-to-use-face-recognition-for-tactical-targeting/

#ice #cbp #gestapo #fascism #ai #facialrecognition #surveillance #demonstration #protest

Why are people disconnecting or destroying their Ring cameras?

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

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/02/10/ring-super-bowl-ad-dog-camera-privacy/88606738007/

#Ring #privacy #surveillance #AI #dystopia #technology

"CBP Signs Clearview AI Deal to Use Face Recognition for ‘Tactical Targeting’"

https://www.wired.com/story/cbp-signs-clearview-ai-deal-to-use-face-recognition-for-tactical-targeting/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

The mass surveillance industrial complex marches on.

#Surveillance #ClearviewAI #FacialRecognition #CBP #US #USPol

New post: Goodbye, Ring. I’m Not Buying Into Your Mass Surveillance.

Ring’s Super Bowl ad tried to make surveillance feel wholesome.

I’m not buying it.

Search Party, default opt-in scanning, and the constant drift toward “your neighborhood as a sensor network” was my last straw. I’m removing my Ring.

https://www.kylereddoch.me/blog/goodbye-ring-im-not-buying-into-your-mass-surveillance/

#privacy #cybersecurity #surveillance #smarthome #ring

WiFi Could Become an Invisible Mass Surveillance System

The method does not require individuals to carry any electronic devices, nor does it rely on specialized hardware. Instead, it makes use of ordinary WiFi devices already communicating with each other nearby. As radio waves move through a space and interact with people, they create distinctive patterns that can be captured and analyzed.

#wifi #surveillance #privacy #security #cybersecurity #hacking

https://scitechdaily.com/researchers-warn-wifi-could-become-an-invisible-mass-surveillance-system/

Ring used the Super Bowl to launch “Search Party,” an AI feature that turns neighborhood cameras into a network to find a lost dog.

This isn’t about lost dogs. It’s about normalizing automated neighborhood surveillance.

https://www.404media.co/with-ring-american-consumers-built-a-surveillance-dragnet/

#ring #surveillance #tech #privacy #superbowl #flock

How ICE agents are using facial recognition technology to bring surveillance to the streets

Using smartphones loaded with sophisticated facial recognition technology, in addition to professional-grade photo equipment, agents are photographing faces of people they encounter in their daily operations, including possible enforcement targets and observers

#facialrecognition #biometrics #surveillance #privacy #ice #technology #tech

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/ice-agent-facial-recognition-video-protest-movile-fortify-photo-rcna257331

All they did was admit that they are using your data to predict your age before they get to your ID.

Surveillance capitalism at its finest!

Discord backtracks on controversial age verification rollout…kind of - 9to5Mac

https://9to5mac.com/2026/02/10/discord-backtracks-on-controversial-age-verification-rolloutkind-of/

#Discord #AgeVerification #Privacy #Security #Surveillance #Tech #Gaming

I compared 20+ platforms on privacy.

The results are brutal.

OUT OF 20+ PLATFORMS:
🔴 14 are EXTREME RISK (avoid)
🟡 6 are MODERATE RISK (caution)
🟢 2 are LOW RISK (acceptable)
🔵 2 are BUILT FOR PRIVACY (trustworthy)

Only Signal and Snugg are actually designed for privacy from the ground up.

Everything else is surveillance with marketing.

Full comparison: https://snugg.social/en/blog/platform-comparison-chart

#Privacy #Security #Surveillance #E2E #OpenSource

No One, Including Our Furry Friends, Will Be Safer in Ring's #Surveillance Nightmare

In the ad, the company previewed future surveillance of our streets: a world where #biometric #identification could be unleashed from consumer devices to #identify , #track, & locate anything — human, pet, & otherwise.

The ad for Ring’s “ #SearchParty ” feature highlighted the #doorbell camera’s ability to scan footage across #Ring devices in a neighborhood, using #AI analysis
#privacy

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/02/no-one-including-our-furry-friends-will-be-safer-rings-surveillance-nightmare-0

Facebook and Google are handing over user #data to help police prosecute #abortion seekers

"As abortion bans across the nation are implemented and enforced, law enforcement is turning to social media platforms to build cases to prosecute women seeking abortions or abortion-inducing medication – and online platforms like #Google and #Facebook are helping. 
This spring, a woman named Jessica Burgess and her daughter will stand trial in #Nebraska for performing an illegal abortion — with a key piece of evidence provided by #Meta, the parent company of Facebook."

https://www.businessinsider.com/police-getting-help-social-media-to-prosecute-people-seeking-abortions-2023-2

#tracking #Profiling #surveillance #sozialeKontrolle #criminalisation #USA #antireport #MyBodyMyChoice

The biopolitical surveillance regime - friendly sponsered by Twitter's official partners

U.S. Marshals Spied on Abortion Protesters Using Dataminr
"Twitter’s “official partner” monitored the precise time and location of post-Roe demonstrations, internal emails show.
Dataminr, an “official partner” of Twitter, alerted a federal law enforcement agency to pro-abortion protests and rallies in the wake of the reversal of Roe v. Wade, according to documents obtained by The Intercept through a Freedom of Information Act request."

https://theintercept.com/2023/05/15/abortion-surveillance-dataminr/

#tracking #Profiling #surveillance #criminalisation #USA #antireport #abortion #Twitter #Dataminr

#Google sells your Information to Cops

#Data #Surveillance #Privacy

Alt...

Google sells your information to cops

Why Big Tech, Cops, and Spies Were Made for One Another
"The American surveillance state is a public-private partnership."
https://theintercept.com/2023/10/16/surveillance-state-big-tech/

#BigTech #Cops #Spyware #Surveillance #Capitalism #Antireport #Police #USA

Don't let Google & co. take over our lives and spaces!
Fuck off #Google!

"Google steals and exploits our #data for profit and turned this behaviour into a norm. It also colonizes our physical spaces. Google canceled its plan for a ‘Google Campus’ in Kreuzberg, Berlin under pressure by the neighborhood; yet it continues its expansion worldwide.
As a decentralized network of people, we want to keep our lives and spaces free from this law- and tax-evading company and its peers, and oppose the dystopian future they offer.
More on our wiki....."
https://wiki.fuckoffgoogle.de/index.php?title=Main_Page

https://search.fuckoffgoogle.net

#Surveillance #capitalism #Antirepor #Data #Privacy

Alt...

big above the search bar it says Fuck off Google in different colours then the search bar below it says "Results are sourced through a proxy from Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. to ensure that you do not share any personal or behavioural information with these companies. These results are "neutral", meaning they are not influenced by your profile (you are outside the "filter bubble" used to present you with ads you are more likely to click on...). This service is brought to you by neighbours from Kreuzberg (Berlin) and an international group working together to drive a "Google Campus" out of our neighbourhood and Google (and its world!) out of our lives. Join us! (Our server does its best to protect your privacy: no logs are stored)."

Since the 1970s, there has been a continual tendency to over-estimate the #surveillance capacities of new #technologies. In the sense of the physical invasion of #privacy, surveillance comprises five sequential events: the capacity to #observe; the act of observation; comprehension of what is seen; intervention on the basis of that knowledge; and a consequent change of behaviour by the subject. Too often the final four have been assumed from the possibility of the first.

David Vincent, Privacy