American Lawmakers Launch Investigations Into Ring's Police Deals (arstechnica.com) 14
A U.S. Congressional subcommittee is now "pursuing a deeper understanding of how Ring's partnerships with local and state law enforcement agencies mesh with the constitutional protections Americans enjoy against unbridled police surveillance," reports Gizmodo:
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform subcommittee on economic and consumer policy, is seeking to learn why, in more than 700 jurisdictions, police have signed contracts that surrender control over what city officials can say publicly about the Amazon-owned company... "In one instance, Ring is reported to have edited a police department's press release to remove the word 'surveillance,'" the letter says, citing a Gizmodo report from last fall.
But that's just the beginning, reports Ars Technica: Congress wants a list of every police deal Ring actually has, the House Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy wrote in a letter (PDF) dated February 19. After that, the Subcommittee wants to know... well, basically everything. The request for information asks for documentation relating to "all instances in which a law enforcement agency has requested video footage from Ring," as well as full lists of all third-party firms that get any access to Ring users' personal information or video footage. Ring is also asked to send over copies of every privacy notice, terms of service, and law enforcement guideline it has ever had, as well as materials relating to its marketing practices and any potential future use of facial recognition. And last but not least, the letter requests, "All documents that Ring or Amazon has produced to state attorneys general, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice, or Congress in response to investigations into Ring...."
The company in the fall pulled together a feel-good promotional video comprising images of children ringing Ring doorbells to trick-or-treat on Halloween. It is unclear if Ring sought consent to use any of the clearly visible images of the children or their parents shown in that video...
Ring has also faced pressure to describe its plans for future integration of facial recognition systems into its devices. While the company has stated repeatedly that it has no such integration, documents and video promotional materials obtained by reporters in the past several months show that the company is strongly looking into it for future iterations of the system...
The House letter gives Amazon a deadline of March 4 to respond with all the requested documentation.
Amazon responded by cutting the price of a Ring doorbell camera by $31 -- and offering to also throw in one of Amazon's Alexa-enabled "Echo Dot" smart speakers for free.
But that's just the beginning, reports Ars Technica: Congress wants a list of every police deal Ring actually has, the House Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy wrote in a letter (PDF) dated February 19. After that, the Subcommittee wants to know... well, basically everything. The request for information asks for documentation relating to "all instances in which a law enforcement agency has requested video footage from Ring," as well as full lists of all third-party firms that get any access to Ring users' personal information or video footage. Ring is also asked to send over copies of every privacy notice, terms of service, and law enforcement guideline it has ever had, as well as materials relating to its marketing practices and any potential future use of facial recognition. And last but not least, the letter requests, "All documents that Ring or Amazon has produced to state attorneys general, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice, or Congress in response to investigations into Ring...."
The company in the fall pulled together a feel-good promotional video comprising images of children ringing Ring doorbells to trick-or-treat on Halloween. It is unclear if Ring sought consent to use any of the clearly visible images of the children or their parents shown in that video...
Ring has also faced pressure to describe its plans for future integration of facial recognition systems into its devices. While the company has stated repeatedly that it has no such integration, documents and video promotional materials obtained by reporters in the past several months show that the company is strongly looking into it for future iterations of the system...
The House letter gives Amazon a deadline of March 4 to respond with all the requested documentation.
Amazon responded by cutting the price of a Ring doorbell camera by $31 -- and offering to also throw in one of Amazon's Alexa-enabled "Echo Dot" smart speakers for free.
Do you think Amazon keeps _records_? (Score:3)
When the Department of Homeland Security shows up with a "Patriot Act" unsigned warrant, and says "you cannot report this", do you think that Amazon will keep the data easily displayed? Or will even inform other personnel of where the records are kept? They are large enough to have a bureaucracy that is aware that they don't wish to be subpoenaed, or make the records easily found precisely to avoid having to share a record of cooperation. This is what AT&T did, for years, with Room 641A tapping their fiber optic backbone.
Moreover, if the evidence is obtained illegally, it's disclosure may have no record at Amazon. It's unfortunately commonplace for investigators, both for police and for political or security agencies, to cast very wide and illegal nets to gather evidence about where to search. The NSA does so with very broad wiretaps, as published by Edword Snowden. The FBI has been caught on many occasions with illegal wiretaps: why would they ask for a wiretap that might reveal their intent when it is so very easy to obtain the information illegally from informants working at Amazon, or from support personnel bribed to use their privileges?
Re: (Score:2)
When the Department of Homeland Security shows up with a "Patriot Act" unsigned warrant
In what context is DHS getting involved here? The thread is about state and local law enforcement. Who have a completely different set of powers from the Feds.
If DHS says "Gimme the videos" in a National Security Letter [wikipedia.org], you (Amazon) pretty much have to comply. Or you (Amazon executives) end up in a room with a light shining in your eyes, answering a lot of questions. The AT&T Room 641A incident is an example of this. A Federal agency steps up and says "Plug this thing in for me." You (AT&T) plug i
Re: (Score:3)
> But Amazon, or the local police departments aren't going to 'deep six' any records of their transactions.
I'm sad to say I've seen companies hide records of law enforcement or government requests for information. The Patriot Act requests are an example of transactions that are concealed. If the other departments aren't informed, and the records are not carefully handled, the person handling a subpoena later dos know where or how to _find_ the records of the transaction, if any were kept. And requests fr
$31 off? (Score:1)
$31 off is a good deal. Plus a free Echo Dot. I just ordered it. Thanks
Re: (Score:2)
$31 off is a good deal.
Only an idiot would think having to pay less for a corporation to spy on them is a good deal.
Re: $31 off? (Score:1)
Thanks. So you ordered one too?
Re: DOORBELL CAMERAS R IMMENSELY BENEFICIAL!!! (Score:1)
You probably just mis-spoke and confused privacy with being someones b!t@h. No harm. It happens all the time.
Whoring personal/private data for profit is so beneficial that now your car dashcam or bodycam can now join the network. This is for private security, right? That inch your giving is around your rectal area. Can you imagine a mile of that?
Porch pirates (Score:2)
Amazon is in the business of selling goods that are (generally) delivered to your door, usually the front door. In some neighborhoods, this is not a problem. 99% of the packages are actually collected by the intended recipient. In other neighborhoods, a lot of packages go missing. While folks that install Ring may still lose their packages, they may be able to discover who took them and maybe, just maybe, the cops will do something about it. Now, if you have the skills (and the money) you can DYI a security
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah good luck with this outrage (Score:2)
Reminds me of an old Cops episode where a good old boy stopped a Mexican family, found $8000 in a tire in the trunk, took it, and sent them on their way. Congressmen slammed their fists asking why the trooper wasn't in jail for theft.
25 years later, the amount seized in this way exceeded the annual value of all burglaries, so good job, Congressmen.