Ring Doorbell in a School

[Danp]

Interested to know what people's thoughts are on this?

[David44]

instead of using brand names, think about it in a different way. Is there a legitimate reason for your school to install a CCTV camera that is not controlled by the school and share the pictures with a foreign company?

[Brax]

Interested to know what people's thoughts are on this?

My question would be why? What's the use case? CCTV should cover the entrance?

[Roberto]

Interested to know what people's thoughts are on this?

 

That no one's done a DPIA about where and how the data gathered by this device will be stored and used by the vendor.

 

You hereby grant Ring and its licensees an unlimited, irrevocable, fee free and royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide right to use, distribute, store, delete, translate, copy, modify, display, and create derivative works from such Content that you share through Services including, without limitation, the Ring Neighbors feature or application, the Ring Community, or via a share link, for any purpose and in any media format -- https://en-uk.ring.com/pages/terms

 

My question would be why? What's the use case? CCTV should cover the entrance?

 

Yup, CCTV + Door entry system with intercom. Works whether this is an internal or external door imo.

Edited March 8, 2023 by Roberto

[DalekSec]

If you 100% need a CCTV Doorbell, i'd avoid ring and go with a Unifi one, even more so if you already have a unifi system already

[Rob_D]

We have paxton video intercoms on the back gates which run seporately to the main CCTV, because our main cctv solution didn't support intercoms.

If you're basically looking for a lower cost intercom systems, then maybe look at the Ubiquity one as it can run just over the local network (or it did a couple of years ago), so there's less of a GDPR issue.

[TechMonkey]

I'd rather go for a proper door access system that would tie in to a VOIP phone system, allowing user failover and sustainability, and giving remote door opening.

[Danp]

Ok, I purposely left this vague as I was interested to know what peoples take on it.

 

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instead of using brand names, think about it in a different way. Is there a legitimate reason for your school to install a CCTV camera that is not controlled by the school and share the pictures with a foreign company?

We all know the answer to this. A big, fat No!

 

That no one's done a DPIA about where and how the data gathered by this device will be stored and used by the vendor.

 

You hereby grant Ring and its licensees an unlimited, irrevocable, fee free and royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide right to use, distribute, store, delete, translate, copy, modify, display, and create derivative works from such Content that you share through Services including, without limitation, the Ring Neighbors feature or application, the Ring Community, or via a share link, for any purpose and in any media format -- https://en-uk.ring.com/pages/terms

 

Yup, CCTV + Door entry system with intercom. Works whether this is an internal or external door imo.

 

Thank you!

 

If you 100% need a CCTV Doorbell, i'd avoid ring and go with a Unifi one, even more so if you already have a unifi system already

 

Noted.

 

 

Agree, it does not need to be a branded device. The reason Ring has come up in conversation is knowing how they work. We would have the option to have the bell ring the mobile app on the school phone that is carried around by the receptionist during the day and in the boarding house at night.

 

Already have a door entry system, but that only rings in the main office.

 

We have CCTV that covers that area, it's not the actual recording of the front door that is needed.

 

Thank you for all your thoughts, really appreciated and only confirmed exactly what I was thinking.

[TechMonkey]

Already have a door entry system, but that only rings in the main office.

 

I know you have the info you need but just wondered, is the door entry system standalone? Ye olde white handset on the wall?

You can probably convert that VOIP and then use ring groups, failover or timed responses that are standard in your phone system. May only need the door panel replaced, a network connection and config in your PBX.

[localzuk]

We had a request for a Ring camera in one of our schools and ran it past our DPO. The answer was a solid no as there's far too many data protection risks - and the same thing can be done without those risks.

[Danp]

I know you have the info you need but just wondered, is the door entry system standalone? Ye olde white handset on the wall?

You can probably convert that VOIP and then use ring groups, failover or timed responses that are standard in your phone system. May only need the door panel replaced, a network connection and config in your PBX.

 

Yeah, box on the wall, but the quote of £2k to convert it got me looking at other options. Well, as well as fielding everyone else's 2p worth too.

[Roberto]

Yeah, box on the wall, but the quote of £2k to convert it got me looking at other options. Well, as well as fielding everyone else's 2p worth too.

 

You can probably guess from my earlier comment what my position would be if I was asked, but I think examining all the options is an entirely reasonable thing to do.

[HarryMonkey]

Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. I have tried and tried and eventually given up. It just flatly refuses to connect to the school's wifi. Works fine from a hotspot via my phone. Ring's customer service advice was to reboot our Internet router. This is clearly a device that is for domestic use only. (A bit like their customer service dept).

 

(And that's before we even start on GDPR).

 

 

PS Don't do it.

[Dmarin]

Anybody actually found a way around this? I suspect it's Smoothwall blocking it, it connects and immediately disconnects....

[DalekSec]

Anybody actually found a way around this? I suspect it's Smoothwall blocking it, it connects and immediately disconnects....

Please see below

Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. I have tried and tried and eventually given up. It just flatly refuses to connect to the school's wifi. Works fine from a hotspot via my phone. Ring's customer service advice was to reboot our Internet router. This is clearly a device that is for domestic use only. (A bit like their customer service dept).

 

(And that's before we even start on GDPR).

 

 

PS Don't do it.