Ring was ALWAYS a mass surveillance tool.
They must love being paid monthly for it too. Or is the ring doorbell a yearly sub? 🤷
Paying for the device to be spied upon is one thing, but paying a subscription to be continuously spied upon is another.
Carrying it around in our pockets and bringing it everywhere we go, is another thing altogether…
This post is fantastic for 2 reasons:
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It’s so important to raise awareness of how these ‘conveniences’ like the Ring Doorbell are being turned into the chains that will bind society
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This post includes an in-image cite with both text url and a QR! This should be standard on any image post like this.
Well played.
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I had a stalker, so I have had one I have not replaced. Any suggestions for something inexpensive and easy to set up? UK based.
Reolink
Ta, added to my shopping list.
Something local.
Well yes, but an actual camera to purchase would be helpful.
Gonna send this to my MIL so I don’t have to come to family gatherings anymore
Lots of local-only options out there for security cameras. Doorbell cameras may be a little harder to find, but it looks like they exist.
I have a few Amcrest PoE bullet cameras, and they work great local-only. They’re on a separate VLAN, only my server can talk to them, and I have had zero problems with them. They even support NTP, which my router provides, so the clocks stay synced with no intervention. I’m running them with Frigate.
We only have Ring cameras because they came with the house. Thankfully, I do not live in an area where this is a risk to my neighbors, but I’ve wanted to switch to a local PoE system since we moved in.
Does the system you have give access to the cameras on your phone when away from the house? That’s the one big thing my partner and I want on ours. I’m just barely getting into self hosting, but I’m willing to try to do something with a system that matches our needs.
Reolink will give you cloud access but has local storage and good privacy history
Depends on you. I use frigate I can access it from outside my house but its your choice how you do it. VPN, reverse proxy, port forwarding all work have own risks but your choice.
Frigate is extremely capable but is severely lacking in the “wife approved” department. I had a Frigate server set up for a few months with one camera, but could not get 2-way audio working properly, no matter what I did. We use 2-way audio quite a lot.
It’s sad that it’s 2026 and tough to find a good ONVIF doorbell. Apparently the new reolink models require the reolink hub. I just want something local I can connect to home assistant that works well…
If anyone has recommendations, I’d appreciate them. Watched a lot of YouTube and a lot of conflicting takes out there where one review is terrible and another sounds like it must be sponsored with how much they love it.
I don’t see anything on the page saying the doorbell requires the hub, just that it works with reolink hub or reolink NVRs. The doorbell also has an SD card slot for local storage. https://m.reolink.com/us/product/reolink-doorbell-battery/
Amazon reviews were the first place I saw it and reolink even has a page about onvif doorbells where they say that the new model requires the hub. I don’t remember if it was all new models but pretty sure it was at least the new WiFi one since that’s what I’d need.
I will add, now that I have one, the only reolink doorbell that can operate an existing hardwired chime is the one that has a battery in it. I sent them feedback that this feature should be more prominent in the device comparisons for whatever good that’ll do.
The wifi one without battery won’t do it. I’m just going to move it to another door where that doesn’t really matter later when I buy the battery one next month. As it is, no hub is needed from my experience, though I did buy the 32channel NVR they sell. Thing takes up to three drives for a max of 48TB. Currently have a 4TB drive from bv-security in it.
