Last week, Ring, a company owned by Amazon, unveiled its Always Home Cam, an indoor drone that flies around your house to boost security. This next-level device is a new addition to the highly popular product line Ring has penetrated the market with. The company, founded in 2013, made its way up to a near-monopoly position in the video doorbell market before being acquired by Amazon in 2018 for over a billion USD. The Ring Video Doorbell, the firm’s flagship product, is a highly advanced camera system with a motion sensor that is connected to an app, so homeowners can communicate with people at their door without being physically present. While also functioning as home security, this device is set to be one of the companies revenue collectors in a market expected to grow from $500 million to $1.4 billion in 2023. Next to doorbells, Ring offers lots of other home security devices, including surveillance cameras for inside and outside, cameras with LED lights, alarms, and an app that integrates all devices.
The Always Home Cam is set to become the first day-to-day flying object in people’s homes. It targets customers that want to cover more than one room with a single camera setup and it can be used to scare away intruders and even to check if you left something at your house. This is one of Amazon’s new smart home appliances to add to your collection, next to your smart thermostat, your smart lighting, or smart speaker. Big tech companies are competing to get as much of their devices into your home, so they can gather more data about you and your day-to-day life. After the announcement of the Always Home Cam, a lot of concerns were raised about privacy issues. It seems a bit weird to secure your home, while, at the same time, a company with a history of privacy issues has the ability to fly around your house recording all your personal belongings.
For the ones that are afraid of these privacy side effects, Ring gives you the ability to restrict the drone to only enter certain rooms. An even better way to prevent privacy issues is to just not buy this product. In my case, I wouldn’t buy this product, although it’s very futuristic and next-level cool. This is more because I simply don’t think I need one. Other smart home appliances are more appealing, like a smart speaker and smart lighting. When I’m ready to buy my first house, a Ring Video Doorbell would be high on my list as well.
My question to you is: How smart is your home, and how smart do you ideally want your home to be? Are you concerned about your privacy when deciding to implement smart devices into your daily life?
When you haven’t seen the Always Home Cam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2jFN_QEcS4
References:
https://www.ft.com/content/8eaf8ee5-b074-4d48-b4fa-15d35a185a5d
https://nl-nl.ring.com/collections
https://www.dezeen.com/2020/09/30/amazon-ring-always-home-cam-drone-security-camera/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2018/02/27/amazon-is-buying-ring-the-pioneer-of-the-video-doorbell-for-1-billion/#74b14ac6706c
https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/video-doorbell-market
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_(company)
Hi Rutger,
Interesting! I did not know about the Always Home Cam yet. I would probably be one of the last people buying one but I understand the benefits it brings with it as well. As you already mention in your title the cam basically implies giving up on your privacy. But if we’re honest, are we not already doing that? Look at devises like Alexa but also social media, online searches as well as smartphones in general. Basically, everything we do comes with a negative privacy side effect. The only difference now is, also video is captured. Hence, while data is already collected about our day-to-day activities, video adds a picture to the existing profile. The Always Home Cam sounds great, it looks great, it provides the additional ‘extra’ to someone’s home, but is it worth buying if you are basically part of ‘big brother’? But maybe it’s just me not liking this idea.
Hi Rutger, thanks a lot for this interesting blog-post! As I haven’t heard of the ‘Always Home Cam’ before, I enjoyed reading your blog about it. You do not only introduce the product but also highlight its biggest concern – privacy. I also enjoyed the way you introduced the so-called ‘measures’ Ring/Amazon offers to decrease the (for us) negative side effects. Such a joke, right?
I wouldn’t buy this product either, as I do also see no benefit of having one. But I do see the advantages of these products in, e.g., company surveillance. New tech gadgets, like the ‘Always Home Cam’ could be quite useful in the surveillance of big companies. Why? I just think about the benefits it might cause: decreasing surveillance costs (due to less security staff)…, remote monitoring, etc… This is also in line with the current company surveillance trends as highlighted by anxiter (2020). So even though we would never use it, those tech-gadgets will be highly valued by companies – at least that is what I think.
But now to your questions: I’d consider myself as someone who is quite cautious of certain smart home gadgets – such as the voice assistance devices by google/amazon. The ‘smart’ gadgets I have tho are lights. I just love the convenience of being able to automate it / turn it on and off from everywhere. Ideally, as soon as all privacy issues and concerns are decreased to a bare minimum, I’d love smart tech gadgets such as a lock, ring, and voice assistance gadgets. So yes, I’d consider myself as someone who is quite concerned about his privacy, especially when it’s about those kinds of products. It is kind of a two-sided sword tho… As we are all actively using a smartphone – which in fact, has similar privacy issues and is sometimes even considered as a privacy nightmare (DeMuro, 2018) … 😀
Reference:
anixter. (2020). Hanwha’S Top 5 Video Surveillance Trends For 2020. [online] Available at: [Accessed 6 October 2020].
DeMuro, (2018). 8 Reasons Why Smartphones Are Privacy Nightmare. [online] TechRadar. Available at: [Accessed 6 October 2020].