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Ring Doorbell's latest advert has caused quite the stir, as it's 'creepy' and 'dystopian' new feature has prompted some to destroy their security camera devices outright in protest.
While some might already consider the ubiquity of security cameras to be creepy enough as it is, the introduction of a new feature available to all Ring Doorbell owners by default has left many with a sour taste in their mouth.
Shown off during the Super Bowl in a now-controversial ad, the feature known as 'Search Party' displayed the ability to use the cameras of everyone in your area to locate a lost dog, analysing its features and specificities with artificial intelligence.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy explained how the feature works on social media, noting: "The AI is trained on tens of thousands of dog videos so it can recognize different breeds, sizes, fur patterns, body features, unique marks, shape, and color."
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At face value this sounds like a useful and relatively harmless feature, but many have expressed fear regarding the wider implications of the advert when it comes to human surveillance, causing mass outrage.
People have likened it to the start of a sci-fi dystopia where every action you make is being watched and analyzed, with plenty pointing out the frightening power this gives both law enforcement and governments, especially as the feature is enabled by default with many not realizing they can turn it off.
As shared by USA Today, this has understandably led many to want to untether themselves from Ring devices, with some even going as far to completely destroy their own gadgets.
One instance of this came from artist and graphic designer Maggie Butler, who shared a video on Instagram of her removing the device from her front door and giving it a middle finger once it's dismantled.
"If you watched the big game you may have seen a Ring commercial that pulls on your heartstrings by convincing you that they're going to help find more lost dogs," Butler wrote in her caption.
"That was an emotionally manipulative way of getting you to buy into their surveillance. They're sharing our data with [ICE emoji] and using it to kidnap our neighbors. Time to cancel our memberships."
Users in the comments underneath her video have shared additional advice, urging people to request for their data to be deleted alongside cancelling their subscription, with others suggesting alternatives with local storage instead of cloud-based systems.
