The problem with doorbell cams: Nancy Guthrie case and Ring Super Bowl ad reawaken surveillance fears; The Guardian, February 14, 2026

Sanya Mansoor , The Guardian; The problem with doorbell cams: Nancy Guthrie case and Ring Super Bowl ad reawaken surveillance fears

"What happens to the data that smart home cameras collect? Can law enforcement access this information – even when users aren’t aware officers may be viewing their footage? Two recent events have put these concerns in the spotlight.

A Super Bowl ad by the doorbell-camera company Ring and the FBI’s pursuit of the kidnapper of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie, have resurfaced longstanding concerns about surveillance against a backdrop of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The fear is that home cameras’ video feeds could become yet another part of the government’s mass surveillance apparatus...

“Ring has a history of playing it pretty loose with people’s privacy rights,” said Beryl Lipton, senior investigative researcher at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. In 2023, the Federal Trade Commission charged the company with “compromising its customers’ privacy by allowing any employee or contractor to access consumers’ private videos and by failing to implement basic privacy and security protections”. This, in turn, allowed hackers to “take control of consumers’ accounts, cameras, and videos”. Ring agreed to pay $5.8m in a settlement with the FTC."

It's Time to Panic About Privacy; The New York Times, April 10, 2019

Farhad Manjoo, The New York Times; It's Time to Panic About Privacy

"Here is the stark truth: We in the West are building a surveillance state no less totalitarian than the one the Chinese government is rigging up.

But while China is doing it through government...we are doing it through corporations and consumer products, in the absence of any real regulation that recognizes the stakes at hand.

It is time start caring about the mess of digital privacy. In fact it's time to panic."

The doorbells have eyes: The privacy battle brewing over home security cameras; The Washington Post, January 31, 2019

Geoffrey A. Fowler, The Washington Post; The doorbells have eyes: The privacy battle brewing over home security cameras

"We should recognize this pattern: Tech that seems like an obvious good can develop darker dimensions as capabilities improve and data shifts into new hands. A terms-of-service update, a face-recognition upgrade or a hack could turn your doorbell into a privacy invasion you didn’t see coming."

Inspector gadget: how smart devices are outsmarting criminals; Guardian, June 23, 2017

Rory Carroll, Guardian; 

Inspector gadget: how smart devices are outsmarting criminals

"Richard Dabate told police a masked intruder assaulted him and killed his wife in their Connecticut home. His wife’s Fitbit told another story and Dabate was charged with the murder.

James Bates said an acquaintance accidentally drowned in his hot tub in Arkansas. Detectives suspected foul play and obtained data from Bates’s Amazon Echo device. Bates was charged with murder.

Ross Compton told investigators he woke up to find his Ohio home on fire and climbed through a window to escape the flames. Compton’s pacemaker suggested otherwise. He was charged with arson and insurance fraud.

All three men, besides pleading innocence, have one thing in common: digital devices may help put them behind bars and etch them in criminal history as some of the first perpetrators busted by the internet of things...

[Brian Jackson, a criminal justice scholar at the Rand Corporation] warned technology was outpacing debate over privacy. “The general public isn’t aware of the full capabilities. It’s a symptom of our love of technology and lack of detailed skepticism.”