Ring will mostly stop sharing video with police
The Use of Ring in the Neighbors App to Enhance the Public Safety of the American Police: A Discussion with Gizmodo
The update is the latest restriction Ring has made to police activity on the Neighbors app following concerns raised by privacy watchdogs about the company’s relationship with police departments across the country.
In addition to discontinuing its Request for Assistance feature, Ring is introducing other features to its Neighbors app, including a “Ring Moments” post category that’s supposed to let users share more than just clips about crime and safety. The Best of Ring feed, which is being rolled out, is similar to TikTok in that you can scroll through a selection of Ring videos. It is unclear how AMAZON picks these videos, but it reminds me of Ring Nation TV show that civil rights groups wanted AMAZON to cancel.
Yarger states that emergency requests are only reviewed by trained professionals who are able to meet the legal standard. In other words, police can still get footage in an emergency without a warrant. Google will also show footage from Nest devices to police in emergencies, no warrant required.
“Now, Ring hopefully will altogether be out of the business of platforming casual and warrantless police requests for footage to its users,” Matthew Guariglia, a senior policy analyst at the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, said in a statement on Wednesday.
The program appeared to be highly successful. Gizmodo conducted an investigation that mapped Ring’s network using data from videos posted to the Neighbors app, showing Ring cameras blanketing cities around the US. According to a letter Ring sent to the US senator Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, the number of police departments they had formed partnerships with rose from 400 to more than 2,100 by July of 2022, as uncovered by the Washington Post. Yarger, the Ring spokesperson, did not say whether the company will maintain its partnership program with police but noted that “law enforcement will continue to be able to use the Neighbors Public Safety Service (NPSS) to post helpful information to their community residents.”
The head of Neighbors said that law enforcement agencies will still be able to make public posts in the app. Police and other agencies can still use the app to share safety tips.
Comments on “Kamiokande Breathing” in the Ring Wall-Carrying Systems, and the Implications for Human Rights and Civil Liberty
Ring agreed to a $5.8 million deal with the FTC over allegations that the company allowed employees and contractors access to user videos. Furthermore, the agency said Ring had inadequate security practices, which allowed hackers to control consumer accounts and cameras. The company disagrees with those claims.
Critics have stressed the proliferation of these relationships – and users’ ability to report what they see as suspicious behavior – can change neighborhoods into a place of constant surveillance and lead to more instances of racial profiling.
