Amazon’s Ring has provided police with footage 11 times this year without owners’ consent
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Amazon’s surveillance camera doorbell company, Ring, has provided footage to law enforcement without a warrant or the consent of doorbell-owners 11 times this year alone.
The figure, sure to spark privacy and civil liberty concerns, was revealed in a letter from the company that was made public Wednesday by U.S. Sen. Edward Markey. It was in response to questions posed by the Massachusetts lawmaker regarding the company’s surveillance policies in June.
Ring, purchased by Amazon in 2018, has previously said it would not provide recordings to law enforcement without users’ consent, though that doesn’t apply to police subpoenas and emergency requests.
Per its policies, Ring “reserves the right to respond immediately to urgent law enforcement requests for information in cases involving imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to any person,” according to the letter, written by Brian Huseman, Amazon’s vice president for public policy. In those cases, authorities are also required to fill out a special “emergency request form” should there be a need to bypass the normal law enforcement procedures.
Huseman noted the company decides whether to share video footage without user consent based on the information provided in the form and circumstances described by law enforcement.
The smart doorbell company said each of the 11 instances this year qualified as an emergency circumstance involving imminent danger of death or serious physical harm. They provided the information to police “without delay.”
“As my ongoing investigation into Amazon illustrates, it has become increasingly difficult for the public to move, assemble, and converse in public without being tracked and recorded,” said Markey in a statement.
“We cannot accept this as inevitable in our country. Increasing law enforcement reliance on private surveillance creates a crisis of accountability, and I am particularly concerned that biometric surveillance could become central to the growing web of surveillance systems that Amazon and other powerful tech companies are responsible for.”
