Internet privacy is already a\nfleeting concept with your ISP and numerous companies tracking your every online\nmove, but now it\u2019s getting even more personal with your security videos\npotentially being shared with law enforcement. Amazon Ring, creator of the\npopular Ring Video Doorbell, has entered into agreements with hundreds of law\nenforcement agencies across the country. These agreements allow police\ndepartments to promote Amazon Ring devices and grants those departments access\nto video footage recorded by Ring users without the need for a warrant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ring, a smart device home\nsecurity company, was acquired by Amazon in 2018. Their primary product is the\nRing Video Doorbell, which uses a motion sensor to activate a high-definition\ncamera recording activity and sending it to the mobile app on the homeowner\u2019s\nsmartphone. The doorbell also contains a microphone and speaker allowing the\nhomeowner to interact with the person or persons at the door. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later in 2018, Ring launched\ntheir Neighbors app, which allows homeowners to join a \u201csocial\u201d network,\nallowing them to report crimes, share information about suspicious activities\nand share video captured by their Ring devices. The Neighbors app also allow\nlocal police departments to join the social network, accessing and join\ndiscussions and view the shared videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ring invites police\ndepartments to partner with Amazon to get access to the Ring \u201cLaw Enforcement\nNeighborhood Portal\u201d showing user registered Ring devices and request video\nfootage. The police do not need a warrant to request this footage, only the\npermission of the Ring user. Users can decline these requests and even\nunsubscribe from receiving requests in the future; however, Amazon is coaching\npolice on how to persuade users to share their video footage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The biggest issue with Ring\nand the partnerships with police is that once your image is captured it is no\nlonger in your control, similar to what occurs whenever you post a picture of\nyourself on the Internet, but with Ring all you have to do is walk past a house\nwith a Ring doorbell and your image is captured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since no warrants are needed,\nthese police partnerships can allow police to collect large amounts of video\nfootage, which they could keep indefinitely and once collected it can be\nanalyzed with facial recognition software, even is unrelated to any criminal\ninvestigation. These abilities are in effect creating a large surveillance\nnetwork providing both law enforcement and Amazon with video footage that they\ncan potentially use however they wish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By marketing on the public\u2019s\ndesire for safety, Amazon has used this to buildout a large nationwide\nsurveillance network. Late last year, the tech-focused nonprofit \u201cFight For the\nFuture\u201d published on open letter to public officials raising concerns about the\nRing and police partnerships and the impacts on the public\u2019s privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To people concerned and\nlooking for a video doorbell or other video security system, consider\nalternatives that do not upload and share your video footage. There are\nnumerous systems available that store your footage at home, but still give you\nthe ability to share with law enforcement if an incident or crime is committed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Protect our privacy is\nbecoming increasingly more difficult as technology permeates all aspects of our\nlives, but we should not give our information and data away to for-profit\norganizations and law enforcement just so we feel safer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Internet privacy is already a fleeting concept with your ISP and numerous companies tracking your every online move, but now it\u2019s getting even more personal with your security videos potentially being shared with law enforcement. Amazon Ring, creator of the popular Ring Video Doorbell, has entered into agreements with hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the country. These agreements allow police departments to promote Amazon Ring devices and grants those…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[18,17],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/access-solutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/access-solutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/access-solutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/access-solutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/access-solutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/access-solutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":385,"href":"http:\/\/access-solutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384\/revisions\/385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/access-solutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/access-solutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/access-solutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}