Amazon admits to giving Ring videos to law enforcement without user consent     

by Jacob Fuller

Matt Bush, FISM News

 

Ring’s parent company, Amazon, admitted in writing to giving Ring video footage to police at least 11 times so far in 2022 without permission or consent from the owner.

In June, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) wrote a letter to Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy expressing concerns “related to privacy violations and data sharing with police departments.”

In the letter, Sen. Markey said, “This surveillance system threatens the public in ways that go far beyond abstract privacy invasion: individuals may use Ring devices’ audio recordings to facilitate blackmail, stalking, and other damaging practices.”

“As Ring products capture significant amounts of audio on private and public property adjacent to dwellings with Ring doorbells — including recordings of conversations that people reasonably expect to be private — the public’s right to assemble, move, and converse without being tracked is at risk,” Markey said.

Brian Huseman, Amazon spokesperson and Vice President of Public Policy, sent a reply letter to Sen. Markey. In the letter, Huseman contends that while Amazon did turn over Ring videos without the consent of the owner, they only complied with law enforcement “after making a ‘good-faith determination’ about risk.”

Amazon said it has only turned over video footage in this manner 11 times in 2022. While that may seem like a small number, it is not the quantity that is concerning to Markey and others. The concern is the fact that if Amazon has access to an undisclosed number of Ring videos and is willing to turn those over to the police now, they could change their policy at any point and give others access to those videos as well.

Sen. Markey’s letter included a list of 11 concerns and policy reforms — all of which can be read here — that Markey wanted to be answered in regard to privacy with Ring videos. Many of those concerns include how well and at what distance audio recordings are made with Ring products.

Ring claims that its products can record high-quality audio up to 20 feet away. This is a concerning fact to many as it could violate the privacy of citizens who do not even know they are being recorded.

One of the major points of contention for Senator Markey is the Neighbors Public Safety Service (NPSS). The NPSS program, also called the “Neighbors” app, is an app that law enforcement officials can use to request videos and issue alerts to Amazon prior to receiving the videos.

While Huseman did not commit to any of the 11 concerns of Markey’s letter, he did mention the NPSS. According to The Hill, “Ring now lets 2,161 police departments use its Neighbors app, five times more than it did in November 2019. Law enforcement officials can use the app to issue alerts and request videos.”

Markey began his investigation into the relationship between Ring and law enforcement back in 2019. He said that law enforcement could create a surveillance network that contributes to invasive policing. That concern seems to be coming to fruition.

The use of videos in police investigations given without user consent goes against Amazon’s stated company policy, which claims that videos cannot be shared without the owner’s approval.

In a recent statement, Markey clarified the reason he is so concerned with privacy rights associated with audio and video recordings. “As my ongoing investigation into Amazon illustrates, it has become increasingly difficult for the public to move, assemble, and converse in public without being tracked and recorded,” he said.

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