"When Ring's latest commercial came on over a Super Bowl ad break, it offered a service that seems like a no-brainer. Called "Search Party," it's a new function that letsRing devices help canvas the neighborhood through its vast network of cameras to find lost pets. "One post of a dog's photo in the Ring app starts outdoor cameras looking for a match to help families find lost dogs," the company's Super Bowl ad enthuses."
"The devices have been the target of widespread privacy criticisms for years at this point. However, their latest data sharing agreement with surveillance company Flock has many activists up in arms, as that startup has no qualms with working closely with federal agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement. With those kind of optics swirling around, the decision to highlight new dog-finding capabilities is a clever PR move for Ring. Who would say no to reuniting lost puppies with their families?"
Ring introduced Search Party, a feature that uses its network of doorbell and outdoor cameras to scan neighborhoods for lost pets after a single photo is posted in the Ring app. The function prompts outdoor cameras to look for visual matches across participating devices. Ring devices already record passersby and face longstanding privacy criticisms. A recent data-sharing agreement with surveillance company Flock, which cooperates with federal agencies including ICE, has intensified activist concerns. Critics warn that Search Party expands the company's ability to track living beings across neighborhoods and could enable purposes beyond reuniting pets.
Read at Futurism
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