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Major change to your Amazon Ring doorbell means better privacy for everyone
A major new update to the Amazon Ring doorbell camera service is being praised by human rights and privacy advocates for a very good reason.
As our homes get smarter by the day, so are the security systems that many of us are using to keep our families and property safe. Whilst Amazons Ring doorbell cameras have proven to be incredibly popular with both consumers and police departments alike, the company is now tightening police access in a move thats been called a major victory for privacy.
Amazon tightens police access to Ring doorbell cameras
In a statement released on Wednesday, January 24, Amazon-owned Ring confirmed that they will now stop allowing police departments across the country from requesting doorbell camera footage through customers directly.
Police departments and other public safety officers had previously been able to directly request and receive video footage that had been captured from users front steps through Rings Neighbors app.
The Ring company, which had an estimated net worth of around $1.8 billion in 2023, did not provide a reason for removing the Request for Assistance tool that police had been using.
Whilst footage collected in this manner has been used extensively in police investigations and judicial convictions, the relationship between departments and the company itself has long been subject to scrutiny.
Matthew Guariglia, a policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation celebrated: Now, Ring hopefully will altogether be out of the business of platforming casual and warrantless police requests for footage to its users.
Whilst they will no longer be able to request footage directly from users, Police departments will still have access to the Neighbors app where they will share helpful safety tips, updates, and other community events, said the apps lead. Police can also still access captured footage using a search warrant.
Ring’s new move has been widely praised by privacy advocates
The announcement of Ring tightening police access to Ring doorbell cameras has been met with widespread praise by various groups who have long been vocal about the invasion of privacy that the polices policies unwittingly brought to consumers.
In fact, human rights advocates have long opposed the whole process of police going directly to users because it not only threatened privacy but exacerbated racial profiling.
Fight for the Future, a non-profit digital rights advocacy group, director Evan Greer said that the previous status-quo was a red carpet surveillance portal and that Rings decision was unquestionably a victory for the coalition of racial justice and human rights advocates.
The ability for�law enforcement�to use the Neighbors app to mass-request footage from camera owners was always dangerous, he added.
They envision a world blanketed in cheap, Amazon-made cameras, where people are constantly watching each other and sharing the content, whether it’s a ‘heartwarming moment’ or a�violent crime.
The Associated Press also points to the fact that in 2022, Ring revealed that they shared 11 videos with police departments without notifying the users of whom those videos were taken.
The company also agreed to a $5.8 million settlement in 2023 over allegations that they had let individual employees and contractors access user videos.
As the popularity of doorbell security cameras increases and our privacy remains constantly under threat, restricting the direct access of police departments to our Ring systems is a sizeable win for us all.
