January 25, 2024 at 06:48AM
Ring, an Amazon-owned company, will discontinue its feature allowing police to request doorbell camera footage from users, ending a controversial practice criticized by privacy advocates. The change, effective immediately, comes amid concerns about surveillance, racial profiling, and privacy. Despite this, law enforcement can still access footage with a search warrant and in limited circumstances without user consent.
Based on the meeting notes, the key takeaways are:
1. Ring, owned by Amazon, is discontinuing the “Request for Assistance” tool, which allowed police departments to request doorbell camera footage from users through Ring’s Neighbors app, effective this week.
2. Eric Kuhn, the head of Neighbors, stated that law enforcement agencies can still make public posts in the Neighbors app and share safety tips, updates, and community events.
3. The decision to discontinue the feature reflects a series of restrictions Ring has implemented on police activity on the Neighbors app, in response to concerns about privacy and the potential for neighborhood surveillance and racial profiling.
4. Ring’s policy change in 2021 made police requests publicly visible through the Neighbors app and prohibited the company from platforming casual and warrantless police requests for footage to its users.
5. Despite the discontinuation of the “Request for Assistance” tool, law enforcement agencies can still access videos using a search warrant, and Ring retains the right to share footage without user consent in limited circumstances.
6. There has been skepticism expressed by the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation regarding Ring’s and law enforcement’s ability to accurately determine emergency circumstances for sharing videos without user consent.
7. Ring had previously agreed to pay $5.8 million to settle with the Federal Trade Commission over allegations related to user video access and inadequate security practices, although the company disputes these claims.
Let me know if you need more information or if there are any other specific questions related to these meeting notes.