Amazon announced Wednesday that law enforcement will no longer be able to ask individuals with Ring-connected cameras to send them live video, a victory for human rights groups.
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Police and firefighters “will still be able to use the app Neighbour (Neighbors, Editor's Note) to share helpful safety tips, information and events,” the US group said in a press release.
But “they will no longer be able to use the support request tool to request and receive videos in the app.”
Amazon markets a range of products under the Ring brand, from doorbells with built-in cameras to door and window alarms.
It allows you to see what's happening in front of your house and control it remotely, especially in the event of a delivery, package theft, or break-in.
But certain uses of these cameras and neighborhood applications have, for years, raised concerns among associations defending public freedoms and human rights, such as the Fight for the Future organization.
Its director, Evan Greer, praised Amazon's decision as an “undeniable victory.”
“Law enforcement’s ability to use the Neighbors app to request mass footage from camera owners has always been dangerous and has had the proven effect of exacerbating racial profiling,” she said.
Amazon made this announcement among other things, including adding features typical of social networks to facilitate the sharing of entertaining videos and photos, mutual aid between neighbors or the appearance of wild animals, for example.
According to Evan Greer, this press release “reveals Ring's true ambitions. They envision a world covered in cheap cameras made by Amazon, where people are constantly watching each other and sharing content, whether it's a fun moment or a violent crime.”
She stressed that the images “will always be available to the police through other means, especially in municipalities that have a camera registry.”
Last May, Amazon agreed to pay more than $30 million to the US Consumer Protection Agency (FTC) to end lawsuits against Ring and Alexa products over user data privacy violations.
According to the FTC, Ring gave access to all of its customer videos to all of the group's employees and hundreds of contractors based in Ukraine, “whether or not they needed it to perform their jobs.”
“We can't rely on Amazon to protect our personal data and civil rights. We need laws,” Evan Greer said.
