Remove Your Ring Camera With a Claw Hammer

Ring cameras from Amazon have been at the center of some real headaches, mostly privacy stuff, security screw-ups, and cozying up too much to cops. They've had a bunch of scandals over the years.

Back in 2023, the FTC slapped Ring with a $5.8 million fine because employees and contractors were peeking at private videos without permission—think bedrooms and kids' rooms. Hackers got in too, thanks to crappy security, and started harassing people, even live-streaming from cameras starting around 2017. In 2024, they sent out $5.6 million in refunds to ripped-off customers.

Ring's Neighbors app used to let police ping users for footage straight up, which freaked everyone out about Big Brother watching. They ditched that in 2024, but switched to public posts instead. Then late last year, they added optional AI facial recognition—you could tag up to 50 faces—which got slammed for ramping up mass spying risks.

Just last month in February 2026, Ring tried teaming up with Flock Safety, a surveillance outfit that works with police (even ICE), to share approved footage. A Super Bowl ad made it blow up, and folks started unplugging or smashing their cams over "surveillance nightmare" worries. They killed the deal quick, and no videos got shared.