Amazons Ring will stop allowing police to request doorbell video footage from users
Summary
Amazon s Ring will no longer allow police to request users doorbell video footage in its neighborhood watch app. Previously, law enforcement could message users privately to request clips from their smart doorbell cameras. In response to a 2022 letter from Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., questioning its police partnerships, the company disclosed that Ring may provide footage directly to law enforcement "in cases involving imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to any person." Ring has long sparked controversy about privacy due to its controversial partnerships with hundreds of police departments across the U.S. Privacy advocates have expressed concern that the program, and Rings accompanying Neighbors app, have heightened the risk of racial profiling and turned residents into informants, with few guardrails around how law enforcement can use the material. Jamie Siminoff, Rings former CEO, couched the features as a public safety tool that would help communities.