If you tuned into this year’s Benito Bowl (because the NFL still does not like when “unauthorized” outlets use the other name), you probably noticed two trends in advertising: 1. AI slop is now a regular part of spot TV. 2. Ring is cold snitching on you and your family. While I won’t get into too much on point one, it’s pretty self-explanatory in my view. Point two, though, needs some diving into. But if you’re looking for a TL;DR version: Ring isn’t looking for your dog, it’s looking to spy on you and your neighbors.

Ring’s Super Bowl Ad

It starts off with a grim, dystopian sci-fi trailer look – you know it, washed out colors. Dramatic, brooding music. Kids crying. This is the tone and look that Zach Snyder’s Man of Steel trailer went for, but to a much more honest presentation. The commercial even featured Ring CEO and founder, Jamie Siminoff, with a shit-eating grin, telling you how your doorbell can be turned into an unchecked surveillance network.

Sadly, this isn’t new territory for Ring or Amazon. In fact, as early as late last year, Amazon and Ring entered into new partnerships with the public surveillance company Flock Safety, which will once again allow police departments to access live streaming video from Ring doorbells and other home-use cameras. These changes directly fly in the face of a lawsuit filed by the FTC against the company as recently as 2024.

In the ad copy, Siminoff proudly proclaims the company’s use of AI to take an image of a pet and not only use it to “match” it to any subject that comes within view of the user’s camera, but also to share it with any nearby Ring camera. At the time of this writing, Ring states that Search Party is only available on their outdoor cameras and is asking us to trust them that they do not use the AI feature to identify pet owners or people. Based on the company’s history and chummy relationship with policing agencies, it’s doubtful that they will be willing to deny access to a tool like this for surveillance in general or targeted identification (a la ICE kidnappings) specifically.

Now’s a Good Time to Smash Your Ring Doorbell

I’ve long hated the idea of unchecked, for-profit companies that have willingly allowed unfettered access to customer data and privacy to local police and other government officials. It’s the main reason I’ve avoided buying cameras and “smart speakers” in my home. While today, Ring is the company that might have flown too close to the sun, thinking that people are this comfortable with giving away what little public privacy exists in this country, the truth is that there isn’t a single IoT device maker out there that can be fully trusted. This is a friendly reminder to you and to me that there’s never been a better time to smash the devices that constantly spy on us.