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Comment by bob1029 | Hacker News Reader

I fear for the day when someone comes knocking on my door because my government-approved surveillance doorbell has been offline for too long.

The very first thing I did when I moved into my new house was completely disconnect/disable all networked security & "smart" home systems. I have a Ring doorbell, but it is not receiving any power. I figure the simple sight of it may still serve as a deterrent.

Most of the "smart" home things I permit today utilize bimetallic strips for their decision making.

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> I fear for the day when someone comes knocking

https://www.cartooningforpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/0...

(Jeff Danziger, cartoonist, NY)

from

http://www.cartooningforpeace.org/cartoonotheque/nouvelles-t...

> I fear for the day when someone comes knocking on my door because my government-approved surveillance doorbell has been offline for too long.

Don't worry, the plutocrats will come knocking on your door long before the government does.

Burglars are not deterred by cameras or alarm systems, especially in the age of face masks. They know they will only be in the house for 5 mins or less and face masks make it harder to identify them.

This makes me wonder, what is a burglar in 2022 stealing? We have no jewelry or cash in our house. We have a nice TV, but in the age of $250 4k TVs I can't imagine most burglars would chance breaking into a house to get a valuable TV. The kid's iPads are ancient and mostly worthless, we've got no game systems, no fancy cameras, no stereo.

The small handful of valuables we have are either stored in an obscure enough place that the thief would have to devote longer than 5 minutes to finding it, or so esoteric that I doubt a random burglar would recognize its value.

What modern thieves steal are the same thing they have always stolen; items that are resellable. Go to your local pawn shop and you'll see what attracts thieves. Video game systems, power tools, amps, guitars, routers, and tons of bicycles.

Many ring devices have sirens that I would think would be quite deterent when set off. The Ring Alarm can even act as a proper monitored alarm system.

Burglars target to be in a house for roughly 5 mins. They don’t care what noise they make, they will be out before the cops can come.

Also, everyone pretty much ignores alarms. There's a 3 second window where they wonder if the alarm is there's, but they promptly ignore it afterwards.

How does one ring your door bell if it's there but without power?

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