Amazon Just Doesn't Respect Privacy

It’s been less than two years since Amazon removed a feature making it easy for law enforcement agencies to request footage from owners of Ring doorbells. But have no fear, Amazon has partnered with two companies that will accomplish the same undesired invasive of privacy.

Amazon announced partnerships with Flock Safety and Axno. Flock is a company that sells surveillance tech, including drones, license-plate reading systems and other tools. Axon builds other tools for police and military applications.

So, in essence, your personal Ring doorbell can once again be used to track anyone driving/walking through your neighborhood. The reverse also holds true. Ring doorbells can track every neighborhood you drive through. The doorbells could also be used by ICE, the Secret Service, and the military. Since government violates Fourth Amendment warrant laws on a regular basis, don’t expect them to get one unless they need it for a court case.

Ring, of course, describes this as a positive. It says an agency that’s verified with Axon Evidence, which Axon owns, could submit a community request that includes a specific location and time frame of a nefarious incident. seeking details. The request would appear publicly in the Neighbors feed for people in that area, giving them the option to provide footage for that incident. Allegedly, only local public safety agencies can initiate Community Requests.

"If you ignore the request, the agency will not know; your anonymity and videos are protected. The choice is entirely yours," Ring said in the post. Really? Any 8-year old can deduce a camera angle to find its origin. The partnerships would also give those agencies more entry points for creating these requests, and Amazon hinted that it may add partnerships with additional companies.

Supposedly there are all sorts of regulations and protections, but let’s be honest. What doesn’t get hacked and abused in today’s digital age? While the footage from Ring devices is supposedly only given to local organizations for investigative purposes, that doesn't mean innocent people -- such as someone walking their dog or children playing in a neighborhood -- are free from potential privacy issues if captured on camera. Think child-molester hacking the system.

"This arrangement creates a tricky problem from a privacy standpoint for consumers because the people who never signed up for surveillance in the first place could be watched," said Erik Avakian, a technical counselor at Info-Tech Research Group. "[Footage] could be used for other investigations, shared with others (think car insurance), or… capture biometrics such as facial recognition (usable for creating fake accounts). The videos might also end up revealing more about neighbors, visitors, or passersby than about the actual incident itself."

A recent incident in my neighborhood had one neighbor calling the police, claiming another neighbor had his Ring doorbell purposely aimed at the former’s house, and was using it to spy on him/her. Police made the privacy-invasive neighbor re-aim the camera. One can only imagine the potential for violence, or lawsuits, should a Ring owner not cooperate in the best interests of everyone.

Source used: cnet.com