The Amazon subsidiary specializing in home protection, Ring, unveiled its future home surveillance drone on September 24, dubbed "Always Home Cam".

Whether the innovation is, according to the company, more respectful of privacy than fixed cameras, questions remain.

If you've ever wondered “Didn't I just leave my papers on the table by chance?”, Or the classic “Did I turn off the gas?”, An innovation from Ring, Amazon subsidiary specializing in home surveillance, may soon be of use.

The company unveiled on September 24 "Always Home Cam", its new surveillance camera drone that patrols the house in our absence.

You can view his images live, remotely on his phone.

But the device raises some practical and privacy questions.

Autonomous drone operable from your phone

It's a new type of surveillance system: rather than installing cameras everywhere and letting them spy on us 24 hours a day, we use a camera drone.

Most of the time, according to the company, he will stay on his base, the camera physically hidden.

It will take off only when asked or when it detects an intrusion: it can be coupled to an alarm system which, if it is triggered, will send the drone directly to the right place to film.

The sound of the drone might even be enough to scare a thief off.

Ever get a Ring Alarm alert and want to immediately see what's happening?

The Ring Always Home Cam is here to help.

This compact, lightweight, autonomously flying indoor camera gives even greater visibility when you're not home.

Learn more: https://t.co/A62pZUuYDa [US Only] pic.twitter.com/13cXKtEeSs

- Ring (@ring) September 24, 2020

The machine is completely autonomous and can follow paths predefined by the user.

Then, you just have to point the place you want to go and watch and, at the end, the drone returns to its base.

It cannot patrol outdoors, which is why it is advertised at a price of 249 euros - against more than 10,000 euros for already existing drones that monitor the surroundings of houses -, and should be available from next year.

Data protection in question

In addition to the drone's potential mobility problems (will it be able to avoid all objects, for example transparent or not very visible because they are white? What will happen if we move the furniture previously mapped?), Comments under the video presentation of this new monitoring tool already point to the privacy issues posed by the system.

The Ring company has already been singled out for the protection of its users' data: some customers have already reported account hacks, problematic for a device aimed precisely at protecting the home.