Privacy? What's that?

from here and here

Ring is in some serious trouble over it's abject failure to protect the privacy of it's customers from it's own employees and others, but the thing that stood out to me wasn't that there was an employee abusing his/her access to the video feeds, but rather the mere fact that there were video feeds coming from people's bedrooms and bathrooms. I don't know about you but I wouldn't want people peeping on me while I poop.

Did it for the lulz

from here and here

Generally speaking, when criminals don't want to get caught they try their best to not get noticed. These guys took a completely different path and got a completely predictable (and arguably well deserved, considering the swatting involved) outcome.

Because the name "Big Brother" was already taken

from here and here

Candid Camera and all the hidden camera shoes that came after it were always a little creepy when you think about them secretly recording people without their prior consent. That's pretty much the same thing that the new surveillance comedy show from Amazon will be as well, except this time the cameras will be everywhere, and it will give people yet another reason to participate in a surveillance state that feeds data directly to police without permission.

Living In The United States Of Amazon

from here and here

Apparently Jeff Bezos makes the rules now, and he's decided to imbue his own employees with the powers normally held only by judges who grant search warrants. Something about private sector judges seems deeply unsettling.

Letting Amazon record your comings and goings

from here and here (image source one, two, and three)

Letting a Ring camera fly around inside your home is pretty invasive, much more so than just having a camera at your front door, and it makes one wonder what's next?

(I know the last image isn't actually of a butt plug with a camera in it, but it certainly looks like it could be that)

One Ring to see them all

found on Acid Cow

Decorating your surveillance-enabled doorbell as the all-seeing eye of Sauron is pretty much the most appropriate signage I've ever seen.

Edmonton Police Service Porch Pirate Sting

Watch on YouTube

This demonstrates that something can in fact be done about those pernicious package thieves, but look at how many police resources it takes to deal with a single porch pirate. Are there enough police to deal with the scale of that problem in this way?

I spy with your Internet-connected eye

from here

Why has our culture become so enamored with surveillance that we not only accept it when others do it to us but we even do it to ourselves? That such surveillance devices then get taken over by attackers seems like an entirely predictable conclusion. Why do we do this to ourselves?