Amazon wants to deliver crime news and fear to Ring doorbell owners

ronjor · Apr 30, 2019

2019-04-30 Abhimanyu Ghoshal

Amazon is in the process of a curious hire – a Managing Editor, News – to help bring “breaking crime news alerts” to owners of Ring’s home security gadgets.
It’s odd because it’s arguably the first time a security firm has required someone to fill this position within its ranks. But as Nieman Lab director Joshua Benton infers, there’s probably something more insidious at play.
Click to expand...

Bill_Bright · May 1, 2019

From that article,

The trouble with a security company getting into the crime news business is that it could exacerbate the problem of people growing fearful and paranoid about threats in their area.
Click to expand...

I think it could also have the opposite effect - too many alerts that amount to nothing to the user could cause people to become complacent or have no sense of urgency - the boy who cried "wolf" syndrome.

IMO, those alerts would have be very narrowly focused to the few houses surrounding mine, or for apartments in the same building - or it is just going to cause one (or both) of those two problems mentioned.

hawki · Jun 6, 2019

"Amazon's helping police build a surveillance network with Ring doorbells

Its popular Ring smart doorbells mean more cameras on more doorsteps, where surveillance footage used to be rare...

While residential neighborhoods aren't usually lined with security cameras, the smart doorbell's popularity has essentially created private surveillance networks powered by Amazon and promoted by police departments.

Police departments across the country, from major cities like Houston to towns with fewer than 30,000 people, have offered free or discounted Ring doorbells to citizens, sometimes using taxpayer funds to pay for Amazon's products. While Ring owners are supposed to have a choice on providing police footage, in some giveaways, police require recipients to turn over footage when requested.

Ring said Tuesday that it would start cracking down on those strings attached...

While more surveillance footage in neighborhoods could help police investigate crimes, the sheer number of cameras run by Amazon's Ring business raises questions about privacy involving both law enforcement and tech giants...

'What we have here is a perfect marriage between law enforcement and one of the world's biggest companies creating conditions for a society that few people would want to be a part of,' said Mohammad Tajsar, staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California..."

https://www.cnet.com/features/amazo...d-a-surveillance-network-with-ring-doorbells/

Bill_Bright · Jun 6, 2019

hawki said: ↑

in some giveaways, police require recipients to turn over footage when requested.
Click to expand...

That articles is not entirely correct. You can certainly give it to them voluntarily, but they cannot force you to give it to them. They still need a court order - though they may not be upfront about that. But in reality, a court order actually protects the police too, at least in major crimes, as it helps establish the "chain of evidence".

The bigger problem, as I see it, is you may end up spying on your innocent neighbors. Let's say your neighbor's wife suddenly, without notifying you, vanishes for 4 weeks. You don't know that she left to care for a sick parent. Then you notice your security camera picked up the husband and another man struggling to toss a rolled up rug in the back of his truck. He comes back an hour later and the rug is gone so you call the cops. SWAT swarms the house and the man's place of work and it takes hours to sort it out. But in the process, the falsely accursed is shamed, embarrassed and may even lose his job.

So the problem with those ring doorbells, for example, is they point out - and therefore may pick up more than just your home.

hawki · Jun 6, 2019

Bill_Bright said: ↑

That articles is not entirely correct. You can certainly give it to them voluntarily, but they cannot force you to give it to them. They still need a court order - though they may not be upfront about that. But in reality, a court order actually protects the police too, at least in major crimes, as it helps establish the "chain of evidence".
Click to expand...

1.It would be a matter of contract -- The police could threaten to uninstall the Ring or charge the homeowner for the price of the Ring.

2. If the tape was critical the Police could go to court seeking "Specific Performance: of the contract.

Bill_Bright · Jun 6, 2019

hawki said: ↑

1.It would be a matter of contract -- The police could threaten to uninstall the Ring or charge the homeowner for the price of the Ring.
Click to expand...

Yes, but that is not the same as forcing you to turn over the recorded data.

hawki said: ↑

2. If the tape was critical the Police could go to court seeking "Specific Performance: of the contract.
Click to expand...

Also true. And they surely would get the warrant too if they had "reasonable cause" to believe there was evidence recorded on that system.

And to that, it means if you know the police wanted your recording and you destroyed the recording before they could get their warrant - you might be in trouble for tampering with or destroying evidence.

FTR, I NOT saying these surveillance programs are bad. In fact, am certain in many neighborhoods and certainly for many crimes, they can be invaluable in the interest of putting the bad guys away forever. And they may be great just for "peace of mind" which in itself is a good thing. I am just saying make sure you know what you getting into. Learn your rights and your obligations before jumping in. And make sure you are no infringing on the rights and privacy of neighbors without their full knowledge and consent.

ronjor · Jun 7, 2019

Ring Is Using Its Customers’ Doorbell Camera Video For Ads. It Says It's Allowed To.

Davey Alba BuzzFeed News Reporter Ryan Mac BuzzFeed News Reporter Posted on June 7, 2019
"You hereby grant Ring and its licensees an unlimited, irrevocable, fully paid and royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide rights to exploit Shared Content for any purpose," reads the Amazon-owned doorbell camera company’s terms of service.
Click to expand...

brians08 · Jun 17, 2019

https://www.cnet.com/features/amazo...d-a-surveillance-network-with-ring-doorbells/

Having video available to help police can be a good thing but this is taking it too far. Cops should have to request the video from the camera owners, not have instant access to it without notification.

"Here's a free doorbell camera! Just click the ACCEPT button at the bottom of the page and it's all yours!"

ronjor · Jun 26, 2019

Amazon Ring Will Survive the Anti-surveillance Backlash

Sidney Fussell Jun 24, 2019
People are far more comfortable with surveillance when they think they’re the only ones watching.
Click to expand...

ronjor · Jul 18, 2019

Here's The Most Complete Map So Far Of Amazon's Ring Camera Surveillance Partnerships With Local Police

Davey Alba BuzzFeed News Reporter Posted on July 18, 2019
Dozens of cities have formed partnerships with the doorbell camera company across the US, according to Fight for the Future.
Click to expand...

guest · Jul 25, 2019

Amazon Requires Police to Shill Surveillance Cameras in Secret Agreement
The Lakeland, Florida police department is required to “encourage adoption” of Ring products as part of a secret agreement with the company
July 25, 2019
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/...hill-surveillance-cameras-in-secret-agreement

Amazon's home security company Ring has enlisted local police departments around the country to advertise its surveillance cameras in exchange for free Ring products and a “portal” that allows police to request footage from these cameras, a secret agreement obtained by Motherboard shows.
The agreement also requires police to “keep the terms of this program confidential.”

For every Lakeland resident that downloads Neighbors as a result of the partnership, the documents show, the Lakeland Police Department gets credit toward more free Ring cameras for residents: “Each qualifying download will count as $10 towards these free Ring cameras.” A Ring doorbell camera currently costs $130 on Amazon.

Police already have access to publicly-funded street cameras and investigative tools that help them track down almost any criminal suspect. But Ring cameras are proliferating in the private sphere, with close to zero oversight.
The result of Ring-police partnerships is a self-perpetuating surveillance network: More people download Neighbors, more people get Ring, surveillance footage proliferates, and police can request whatever they want.
Click to expand...

guest · Jul 29, 2019

Amazon’s Ring reportedly partners with more than 200 US police departments
Law enforcement across the country works with Ring
July 29, 2019
https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/29/20746156/amazons-ring-law-enforcement-partnerships

Amazon’s surveillance camera brand Ring has partnered with more than 200 police departments across the country, according to a new report by Motherboard.
It’s been widely known that Ring has worked with law enforcement [...] But the news highlights the scope of the relationship between the company and police.

Motherboard obtained notes from an officer given a webinar by Ring. According to the notes, Ring lets officers request footage from owners through Ring. While police reportedly need consent from owners, a warrant isn’t required. (Ring said in a statement that any requests from law enforcement must be tied to an active investigation.) The notes say 200 agencies use the system.
Ring emphasized that camera footage can’t be accessed directly by police.
Click to expand...

guest · Jul 31, 2019

Everything Cops Say About Amazon's Ring Is Scripted or Approved by Ring
July 30, 2019
https://gizmodo.com/everything-cops-say-about-amazons-ring-is-scripted-or-a-1836812538

Amazon’s home security company Ring has garnered enormous control over the ways in which its law enforcement partners are allowed to portray its products, going as far as to review and even author statements attributed to police in the press, according to emails and documents obtained by Gizmodo.

To ensure that police stay on message when promoting the app, or answering questions about it, Ring not only provides police departments with talking points but widely seeks to secure contracts that grant it the absolute right to approve all police statements about its services.

Contracts and other documents obtained from police departments in three states show that Ring pre-writes almost all of the messages shared by police across social media, and attempts to legally obligate police to give the company final say on all statements about its products, even those shared with the press. (In exchange, police are also given the ability to approve any Ring press releases that directly reference the partnering police agency.)
Click to expand...

guest · Aug 1, 2019

Amazon Ring: Police tie-up criticised by anti-surveillance campaigners
August 1, 2019
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49191005

The partnerships came to light after a Freedom of Information request made by Vice's Motherboard tech news website.

In response to the story Ring told the BBC: "Law enforcement can only submit video requests to users in a given area when investigating an active case. Ring facilitates these requests and user consent is required in order for any footage or information to be shared with law enforcement."
Motherboard says officers do not need a warrant to ask for footage or information.

Fight for the Future deputy director Evan Greer told Motherboard: "Amazon is building a privately run, for-profit surveillance state and they're getting local police to market it for them in exchange for VIP access."
"It really encourages people to participate in spying on their neighbourhoods."
Click to expand...

Minimalist · Aug 3, 2019

Cops Are Offering Ring Doorbell Cameras in Exchange for Info

On June 21, Chris Williams, the captain of the El Monte Police Department in California, sent an email to staff reminding them about a new incentive for crime witnesses to share information with law enforcement. Rather than the cash reward used by some programs, El Monte gave out camera-equipped doorbells made by the home security company Ring, which retail starting at $99. “The Ring Home Security Camera system provides not only intelligence about suspect’s action and descriptions, but serves as a deterrent to crime,” Williams wrote, according to documents obtained in response to a public records request.
Click to expand...

https://www.wired.com/story/cops-offering-ring-doorbell-cameras-for-information/

guest · Aug 6, 2019

Amazon's Ring Is Teaching Cops How to Persuade Customers to Hand Over Surveillance Footage
August 6, 2019
https://gizmodo.com/amazons-ring-is-teaching-cops-how-to-persuade-customers-1837000515

But according to documents and emails obtained by Motherboard, Ring also instructed police from two departments in New Jersey on how best to coax the footage out of Ring customers through its “neighborhood watch” app Neighbors in situations where police requests for video were not being met, including by providing police with templates for requests and by encouraging them to post often on the Neighbors app as well as on social media.

In one such email obtained by Motherboard, a Bloomfield Police Department detective requested advice from a Ring associate on how best to obtain videos after his requests were not being answered and further asked whether there was “anything that we can blast out to encourage Ring owners to share the videos when requested.”

“The more users you have the more useful information you can collect,” the associate wrote.
Click to expand...

hawki · Aug 8, 2019

"This Map Shows If Your Town's Police Are Tapped Into Ring's Surveillance Network..."

https://gizmodo.com/this-map-shows-if-your-towns-police-are-tapped-into-rin-1837079976

guest · Aug 10, 2019

Ring Told People to Snitch on Their Neighbors in Exchange for Free Stuff
August 9, 2019
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/...on-their-neighbors-in-exchange-for-free-stuff

Ring, Amazon’s home security company, has encouraged people to form their own “Digital Neighborhood Watch” groups that report crime in exchange for free or discounted Ring products, according to an internal company slide presentation obtained by Motherboard.

The slide presentation—which is titled “Digital Neighborhood Watch” and was created in 2017, according to Ring—tells people that if they set up these groups, report all suspicious activity to police, and post endorsements of Ring products on social media, then they can get discount codes for Ring products and unspecified Ring “swag.”

“Some of these ideas become official programs, and many others never make it past the testing phase,” Ring continued, adding that the company “is always exploring new ideas and initiatives.”
Click to expand...

guest · Aug 21, 2019

Ring asks police not to tell public how its law enforcement backend works
Ring asks cops not to call its security cameras "security cameras" in public
August 21, 2019
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...ance-products-surveillance-ring-tells-police/

Amazon's Ring line of consumer home surveillance products enjoys an extensive partnership with local police departments all over the country. Cops receive free product, extensive coaching, and pre-approved marketing lines, and Amazon gets access to your 911 data and gets to spread its network of security cameras all over the nation.
According to a trio of new reports, though, the benefits to police go even further than was previously known—as long as they don't use the word "surveillance," that is.

Gizmodo on Monday published an email exchange between the chief of police in one New Jersey town and Ring showing that Ring edited out certain key terms of a draft press release before the town published it, as the company frequently does.
Click to expand...

Minimalist · Aug 26, 2019

How Amazon convinces police to join the Ring network

Up to 250 police departments have joined Amazon's Ring Neighbors program, a neighborhood watch app, but these deals don't happen overnight. For the Chula Vista police department in California, Ring spent more than a year offering discounts and applying peer pressure with constant reminders and emails to convince officers to sign up.
Click to expand...

https://www.cnet.com/news/how-amazon-convinces-police-to-join-ring/

guest · Aug 30, 2019

Ring reportedly shared video sharing data, detailed maps with police in 2018
The company says the reports do not reflect its "current policies."
August 30, 2019
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...aring-data-detailed-maps-with-police-in-2018/

Amid a growing chorus of privacy complaints and media reports about these partnerships, Ring has repeatedly promised explicitly that police have no way of knowing details of who has the cameras installed and which residents are—or aren't—willing to share their footage.
New reports, however, indicate that police departments may be receiving more data about Ring users in their jurisdictions than previously disclosed.

Gizmodo reports today that documents it obtained from a Florida police department included emails from Ring "about the number of times residents had refused police access to their cameras or ignored their requests altogether."
Ring now keeps statistical data of this type to itself, the company told Gizmodo. "This is not representative of our current policies or the current video request process," the company said. "Ring does not provide video request data to law enforcement agencies."

While heat maps may no longer be available, at one time Ring did indeed provided detailed maps to its partners. The Guardian obtained documents it published today showing the evolution of the agreement between Ring and Gwinnett County, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta.
Click to expand...

guest · Sep 5, 2019

Senator pushes Amazon for details about Ring “partnerships” with police
September 5, 2019
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...-details-about-ring-partnerships-with-police/

As a dozen recent media reports have shown, however, that the details about these partnerships and the privacy concerns they raise tend to be shrouded in secrecy and hard to learn.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) is now among those who would like Amazon to explain what, exactly, Ring is up to. "The nature of Ring's products and its partnerships with police departments raise serious privacy and civil liberties concerns," Markey said in a letter (PDF) addressed to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

"I am particularly alarmed to learn that Ring is pursuing facial-recognition technology with the potential to flag certain individuals as suspicious based on their biometric information."
Clear answers?
Sen. Markey gave Ring until September 26 to answer questions reporters and the general public have increasingly been trying to gain clarity on. Those inquiries relate not only to information requests but also to data retention and sharing policies, as well as other privacy concerns.
Click to expand...

Minimalist · Sep 24, 2019

Amazon's Ring wanted to use 911 calls to activate its video doorbells

Ring considered building a tool that would use calls to the 911 emergency number to automatically activate the video cameras on its smart doorbells, according to emails obtained by CNET. The Amazon-owned company isn't currently working on the project, but it told a California police department in August 2018 that the function could be introduced in the "not-so-distant future."
Click to expand...

https://www.cnet.com/news/amazons-ring-wanted-to-use-911-calls-to-activate-its-video-doorbells/

ronjor · Oct 8, 2019

Over 30 civil rights groups demand an end to Amazon Ring’s police partnerships

Sarah Perez@sarahintampa October 8, 2019
Over 30 civil rights organizations have penned an open letter that calls on government officials to investigate Amazon Ring’s business practices and end the company’s numerous police partnerships. The letter follows a report by The Washington Post in August that detailed how over 400 police forces across the U.S. have partnered with Ring to gain access to homeowners’ camera footage.
Click to expand...

guest · Oct 17, 2019

Amazon Is Marketing Face Recognition to Police Departments Partnered With Ring: Report
October 15, 2019
https://gizmodo.com/amazon-is-marketing-face-recognition-to-police-departme-1839073749

Emails uncovered by an ABC News investigative team in Tampa Bay (WFTS) reportedly show that Amazon has been pushing police departments to adopt its controversial face recognition software, Rekognition, while also helping them acquire access to footage taken by Ring’s doorbell cameras via its Neighbors app.

Ring has repeatedly told reporters that neither its devices nor the law enforcement portal through which police request access to Ring footage use facial recognition. (“Ring does not use facial recognition technology,” a spokesperson told Gizmodo last month.) But Ring’s denials do not appear to rule out the possibility that police may, at some point, obtain doorbell footage and analyze the faces in it using a separate Amazon product.

“I am particularly alarmed to learn,” he wrote, “that Ring is pursuing facial recognition technology with the potential to flag certain individuals as suspicious based on their biometric information.”
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

Amazon wants to deliver crime news and fear to Ring doorbell owners

ronjor Global Moderator

Bill_Bright Registered Member

hawki Registered Member

Bill_Bright Registered Member

hawki Registered Member

Bill_Bright Registered Member

ronjor Global Moderator

brians08 Registered Member

ronjor Global Moderator

ronjor Global Moderator

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Minimalist Registered Member

guest Guest

hawki Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

Minimalist Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

Minimalist Registered Member

ronjor Global Moderator

guest Guest

Log in or Sign up

Amazon wants to deliver crime news and fear to Ring doorbell owners

ronjor Global Moderator

Bill_Bright Registered Member

hawki Registered Member

Bill_Bright Registered Member

hawki Registered Member

Bill_Bright Registered Member

ronjor Global Moderator

brians08 Registered Member

ronjor Global Moderator

ronjor Global Moderator

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Minimalist Registered Member

guest Guest

hawki Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

Minimalist Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

Minimalist Registered Member

ronjor Global Moderator

guest Guest

Useful Searches