Ring, the Amazon-owned security company known for its smart doorbells, just unveiled a tiny drone called the “Always Home Cam” that flies around and records inside your home.
The $250 drone autonomously takes off, flies around on patrol, and lands in its charging dock, The Verge reports — like the nightmare panopticon version of a robot vacuum. While the new Ring drone is designed to record anyone breaking and entering, it might raise issues for anyone with a shred of desire for privacy.
Ring founder Jamie Siminoff boasted to The Verge about the Always Home Cam’s technical specs and advances in drone technology that allowed the company to develop what Siminoff called an “obvious product that is very hard to build.”
To its credit, the drone is designed to mind physical safety. Its software will automatically avoid obstacles like walls or pets, and its propeller is covered by a case to prevent it from slashing anything it passes. But the real questions raised by the indoor surveillance drone are about privacy, not hardware.
Ring has a pretty bad track record when it comes to privacy and cybersecurity. Since the company’s launch and widespread adoption, horror stories have emerged of hackers spying on families or even employees watching users’ footage.
Needless to say, that sounds like an important consideration before inviting cameras to fly around and record your home life.
