Jason Bassler | @JasonBassler1
Big Brother just got an upgrade.
Starting December, Amazon’s Ring cameras will scan and recognize faces. Don’t want to be in their database? Too bad — walk past a Ring and your face can be stored, tagged, & analyzed without consent.
One step closer to total surveillance.
[Image: A Ring doorbell camera mounted on a brick wall. A digital overlay shows facial recognition scanning a person's face with grid lines. Text on the right reads “Amazon's Ring Adds Facial Recognition to Home Security” with additional text below.]
6:00 PM | Oct 4, 2025
Naich@lemmings.world 2 weeks ago
This feels like it should be illegal in the EU.
stoy@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Swede here, our laws disallow private security cameras from filming public areas.
The law is so broad that it interfered with dashcams, disallowing them for years.
Dave@lemmy.nz 2 weeks ago
That’s really interesting. Is it specifically security cameras?
Can you generally take videos of people in public places? Photos?
jpeps@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I wish we had more protection in the UK. Technically the law allows filming public property as long as it is not the direct focus, eg you film your front door and catch some of the street. But it’s not policed at all. Living on a terraced main road I cant leave my house without being filmed by at least 5 different neighbour’s cameras from a range of different American or Chinese companies. One camera literally just points towards a window of my own home. It’s insane, I feel like they’re all just standing outside watching me.
Technically, I have the right to ask to see the footage they record and ask for adjustments to angles etc, but it’s left to individuals to do. I’d have to have an awkward individual conversation with a bunch of strangers (sad but true) about something I doubt they even consider an issue.
I’d love to see some legislation that would require some publically accessible way to review what’s in camera for doorbell cams, but I guess that would just be seen as helping criminals.
boovard@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Same in Belgium, and Tesla is even having issues with it’s “sentinel” feature being ruled illegal 🙏
JohnAnthony@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
It is more specific in France, but I actually dug around regulations a year ago when the other homeowners in my building wanted to install a security camera. The common parts of a residential building are considered somewhere in between public and private.
The short version is you need majority approval, the tape can only be accessed if something happens, you can’t film apartments doors or windows and as few people as possible may have access. Which put quite a damper on my neighbours who were already celebrating how they would watch who enters and leaves the building at all times.
Bunch of fucking weirdos.
RVGamer06@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Same in Italy, minus the dashcam part
Aljernon@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
do public seccurity cameras exist though? In the US, we have cameras watching the movement of cars thru the road network via license plate. It’s dystopian
SynonymousStoat@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I believe this is also illegal in some US States. I know of at least a couple that don’t allow biometric data to be stored without concent; I think Facebook even lost a case in one state and had to pay a pretty large sum of money.
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It most certainly is. There’s no way they’re implementing this here.
primrosepathspeedrun@anarchist.nexus 2 weeks ago
What. You gonna make em? Once the data’s on their servers, they’ll do what they want.
Unless you physically disallow and destroy their hardware that’s invaded your continent.
20cello@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Will it happen in Europe too?
oce@jlai.lu 2 weeks ago
This cannot happen in EU with the current GDPR, they would need to request and receive consent prior to collecting the face.