Ring security cameras
Ranked 2 of 4 security cameras by recommenders
Home cameras that people recommend for recording footage they can use as proof. Critics object that Amazon shares footage and data with police and Flock.
Home cameras that people recommend for recording footage they can use as proof. Critics object that Amazon shares footage and data with police and Flock.
108 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 97
- approval share
- 10%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Optional end-to-end encryption and storage-only access
“as long as the data is encrypted, amazon doesn't access it beyond storage and deliver to the customer”
Comment from 10 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Automated license plate reader coverage in the USA” “the Ring app offers an option to enable end-to-end encryption between the camera and your phone”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “Amazon, Google Unwittingly Reveal the Severity of the U.S. Surveillance State”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Police access and Flock integration
“Ring has experienced backlash before when they allowed police departments to browse the imagery without any kind of oversight or warrant.”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Amazon Ring's lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance” “It's the same kind of shell game Ring has been running by putting surveillance cameras on everyone's house and then selling access to law enforcement.”
Comment from 20 Nov 2025 in “CBP is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with suspicious travel patterns” “Ring cameras don't record and index every single license plate that it sees and hand that data over directly to law enforcement.”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “Flock Wants a Closely Surveilled World with No Exit” - Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash”
- Comment from 4 Jun 2026 in “Meta's ships facial recognition on smart glasses”
Unconsensual facial recognition and AI scanning
“That one image of all the camera's apparently remotely controlled to scan the entire neighbourhood is something it's difficult to unsee.”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Ring owners are returning their cameras” “uses AI face/pattern recognition under the guise 'search for missing dogs' to scan all its cameras videos”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “Amazon, Google Unwittingly Reveal the Severity of the U.S. Surveillance State” “The issue with Ring cameras is the unconsensual facial recognition while Amazon owns all of the data”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Amazon faces class action lawsuit over Ring facial-recognition feature” Amazon controls data with little user control
“the amount of control over the data the customer has is very little but most are simply unaware of this”
Comment from 1 Nov 2026 in “Police chief unplugs cameras after Flock ignores contract cancellation” “The issue with Ring cameras is the unconsensual facial recognition while Amazon owns all of the data”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Amazon faces class action lawsuit over Ring facial-recognition feature” Neighborhood-wide surveillance from every doorstep
“Ring cameras on everyone's front door and automated license plate readers (ALPR) on police vehicles and Flock cameras throughout cities are bigger concerns in America.”
Comment from 30 Nov 2025 in “Modern cars are spying on you. Here's what you can do about it” “It's the same kind of shell game Ring has been running by putting surveillance cameras on everyone's house and then selling access to law enforcement.”
Comment from 20 Nov 2025 in “CBP is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with suspicious travel patterns” “The future is Flock, Palantir, and Ring or their descendants tracking your every move and generating your social credit score.”
Comment from 1 May 2026 in “Flock cameras keep telling police a man who doesn't have a warrant has a warrant”
Other security cameras people recommend
The three most recommended other security cameras, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reolink security cameras | 14 | 6 | 70% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Ring security camerasThis page | 11 | 97 | 10% | 7 | — | — |
| Ubiquiti UniFi cameras | 8 | 3 | 73% | 4 | — | — |
| TP-Link Tapo C200 | 8 | 12 | 40% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 116 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the amount of control over the data the customer has is very little but most are simply unaware of this”
“none of which require the devices to have a field of view extending beyond the property line”
“would 1000x the domestic surveillance capacity of current Flock, Ring, Tesla and CCTV cams”
“Ring cameras don't record and index every single license plate that it sees and hand that data over directly to law enforcement.”
“I personally removed ring and installed my own system that doesnt export video out of concern with the governments lack of checks and balances anymore.”
“Everyone has a Ring camera, don't they sell data to 3rd parties?”
“I wouldn't use a Ring camera that was shipping the data back to Amazon and any number of police departments.”
“The issue with Ring cameras is the unconsensual facial recognition while Amazon owns all of the data”
“they bought some Ring cameras and send it to Amazon's servers”
“The future is Flock, Palantir, and Ring or their descendants tracking your every move and generating your social credit score.”
“People don't even bother hiding their face when they porch pirate in front of an obvious Ring camera because they know there is no real risk.”
“Cloud based home security cameras are the next likely source for Flock-like ALPR mass-surveillance.”
“Twice I have relied on mine and neighbors ring camera for proof”
“many people have been removing Ring cameras after they were shown to automatically upload video without user's knowledge”
“there is nothing stopping Ring from telling the app to share a user's keys”
“Even getting your neighbors to re-position their Ring cameras (which they have every right to install) can become very difficult.”
“It's hard to have any empathy when the warning label was already on the box for all these products.”
“uses AI face/pattern recognition under the guise 'search for missing dogs' to scan all its cameras videos”
“Lot's of ambitious people are selling extra refined new additions to surveillance right now!”
“the Ring app offers an option to enable end-to-end encryption between the camera and your phone”
“What part of Ring or Nest's cloud-connected camera network do you consider "closed circuit"?”
“they knew they needed a sort of euphemistic way of pitching their surveillance system”
“That one image of all the camera's apparently remotely controlled to scan the entire neighbourhood is something it's difficult to unsee.”
“Certainly sounds like "We have the integration and we successfully funneled test videos off of internal Ring cameras to Flock"”
“manipulative reframing of surveillance infrastructure by using pets as means of psychological manipulation”
“how eagerly AMZN's subsidiary was willing to sell it's cameras to whomever was willing to pay”
“their absolutely dogshit technology to be perceived as something a lot more valuable and powerful than it really is”
“it's just as much of a problem without a subscription, because you are the service being sold”
“Looks like it just always records, they just don't let you access it unless you pay subscription.”
“Ring has experienced backlash before when they allowed police departments to browse the imagery without any kind of oversight or warrant.”
“Be a hero by using our survelliance cameras to turn your neighbours in to the Gestapo”
“They only serve to track and monitor your neighbors and feed into some ai training set”
“which in partnership with ring also includes everybody's doorbell and security cameras”
“as soon as ICE learns that such a thing is possible they will for sure want to use it”
“Ring existed long before Flock (but has since removed the police "request everything in the area" feature.)”
“Currently flock and ring cameras are tracking people at a scale that canon cameras just aren't.”
“as long as the data is encrypted, amazon doesn't access it beyond storage and deliver to the customer”
“Ring is problematic in some ways but doesn't produce trivially searchable metadata.”
“Ring cameras on everyone's front door and automated license plate readers (ALPR) on police vehicles and Flock cameras throughout cities are bigger concerns in America.”
“It's the same kind of shell game Ring has been running by putting surveillance cameras on everyone's house and then selling access to law enforcement.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.