AUSTIN — By Joseph Martinez, AI Bee Reel Staff

February 16, 2026

SAN MATEO, California — A local Golden Retriever named Buster was left stranded on his own porch today after a smart doorbell refused to unlock the front door until the canine legally consented to data tracking. The Ring camera, spotting the lost dog, projected a holographic Terms of Service document onto the welcome mat and demanded a verified paw-print signature before granting access.

“Security is our top priority, even for good boys,” said Brad Lockout, VP of Mammal Compliance. “Since our Super Bowl ad showed we can track anything, we have to cover our legal bases. This dog attempted to enter the premises without consenting to third-party data sharing or binding arbitration. We simply cannot accept liability for an unverified tail wag.”

“The user interface is actually very intuitive for quadrupeds,” explained Chief Experience Officer Sarah Firewall. “The dog just needs to bark twice for ‘Yes’ and three times to opt out of marketing cookies. Most pets get stuck on the two-factor authentication because they don’t have thumbs to hold their smartphones.” Meanwhile, Buster’s owner was seen desperately holding a strip of bacon up to the lens, hoping the AI would interpret it as a verification token.

At press time, the Ring camera had locked the homeowner out for “aiding and abetting” after they tried to manually open the door for the unauthorized biological entity.

Inspired by the real story: Ring’s new Super Bowl ad highlights how its pet-tracking features raise serious privacy questions about mass surveillance. Read the full story.