Ring’s controversial, AI-powered “Search Party” feature isn’t intended to always be limited only to dogs, the company’s founder, Jamie Siminoff, told Ring employees in an internal email obtained by 404 Media.
In October, Ring launched Search Party, an on-by-default feature that links together Ring cameras in a neighborhood and uses AI to search for specific lost dogs, essentially creating a networked, automated surveillance system. The feature got some attention at the time, but faced extreme backlash after Ring and Siminoff promoted Search Party during a Super Bowl ad. 404 Media obtained an email that Siminoff sent to all Ring employees in early October, soon after the feature’s launch, which said the feature was introduced “first for finding dogs,” but that it or features like it would be expanded to “zero out crime in neighborhoods.”
“This is by far the most innovation that we have launched in the history of Ring. And it is not only the quantity, but quality,” Siminoff wrote. “I believe that the foundation we created with Search Party, first for finding dogs, will end up becoming one of the most important pieces of tech and innovation to truly unlock the impact of our mission. You can now see a future where we are able to zero out crime in neighborhoods. So many things to do to get there but for the first time ever we have the chance to fully complete what we started.”
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Why anyone would have non-locally hosted video surveillance in and around their home is beyond me.
You’re basically begging corporations/governments to spy on you.
This is what the data centers are for. And also why all hard drive capacity for 2026 has already been sold. Video takes up a massive amount of space.
I wonder, like how vulnerable are these data centers to say natural disasters. LIke electricity surges, electromagnetic pulses, what else, if their cooling centers went down? Just worried for their sake, is why I ask obviously, like what would the best way to try to protect them from destruction I wonder?