Ring doorbells all have 'creepy' new feature that people have to opt out of
Ring doorbells have faced a huge amount of backlash in recent days after a rather 'creepy' Super Bowl ad promoting a new feature which people need to opt out of.
The home security devices, which are produced by Amazon, have become commonplace in recent years as a way of keeping a close eye on who comes up to your house without having to actually be there in the flesh.
In front of over 120 million viewers on Super Bowl Sunday last week, the tech company confirmed that its AI-powered feature 'Search Party' will now be available to all users.
Although the advert focused on how the feature can be used to scan neighbourhoods in order to find a cute missing dog, the implications of what it will likely be used for instead is what is leaving a lot of users feeling concerned and creeped out.
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During the ad, Ring founder Jamie Siminoff suggested that since launch, 'more than a dog a day has been reunited with their family', with the Black Mirror-esque feature allowing doorbell cameras to monitor the area outside homes for dogs that match descriptions shared through Ring’s Neighbours app.
He said: “Before Search Party, the best you could do was drive up and down the neighbourhood, shouting your dog's name in hopes of finding them.
"Now, pet owners can mobilise the whole community—and communities are empowered to help—to find lost pets more effectively than ever before."
The feature is also automatically enabled, meaning that anyone who doesn't want an AI-powered camera scanning the area around their house will have to opt out themselves.
The Telegraph suggested last year that one in five UK homes now has a smart camera device of some kind, while they're also incredibly popular in the US, even if this latest update has left many wondering if they want one in the long term.
There have already been rumours that ICE has already been using Ring data as a way of rounding up people who they claim to be 'illegal aliens', but that is something the company has denied.
Speaking to Wirecutter, the company stated: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot initiate Community Requests. Ring has no partnership with ICE, does not give ICE videos, feeds, or back-end access, and does not share video with them.
"Like all companies, Ring may receive legally valid and binding demands for information from law enforcement, such as search warrants, subpoenas, or court orders.
"We do not disclose customer information unless required to do so by law, or in rare emergency situations when there is an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury. Outside of that legal process, customers control which videos are shared with law enforcement.”
However, Ring did confirm a partnership with Flock Safety in October 2025 which will allow Ring-device owners to voluntarily share their own footage with local law enforcement agencies that use the Flock network.
And there has been several reported cases where either the local law enforcement agencies have shared data with ICE, or police agencies nationwide have tapped into Flock camera feeds to help federal immigration officials track targets.
Speaking to LADbible, Ring said: "Anyone in the US can now start a Search Party in the Ring app to help find their missing dog, whether they own Ring cameras or not.
"When a neighbour reports a lost dog in the Ring app, nearby participating outdoor Ring cameras automatically begin looking for potential matches. Using AI-powered computer vision, these cameras look for dogs that resemble the one reported missing, alerting the camera owner if it detects a potential match. The camera owner can see a photo of the missing dog alongside their own camera footage and choose to share the information with the neighbor searching for their pet or ignore the alert.
"Camera owners choose on a case-by-case basis whether they want to share videos with a pet owner, protecting users’ privacy while also giving them the power to be a neighbourhood hero. With Ring’s Search Party, your privacy is always in your control. You can ignore the alert or choose to share the info with your neighbour in need.
"Since its launch, the AI-powered Search Party feature has helped reunite more than one lost dog a day with their owners."
Topics: Amazon, Super Bowl, AI, Technology
James Moorhouse