Ring, the Amazon-owned home surveillance company known for its long history of partnering with police, announced today that it plans to shut down a controversial tool that allows law enforcement to ask users to share their footage without first obtaining a warrant.
Civil liberties advocates are praising the move, but some warn that the very presence of home surveillance cameras continues to pose a risk to privacy and fuel police overreach.
Although Ring says the RFA tool will no longer be available starting next week, there are several other ways police can access Ring users' surveillance footage without obtaining a warrant.
Controversy over Ring's relationship with law enforcement stems from its police partnership program, first revealed in a CNET investigation in June 2019.
For years, Ring worked with police to sell discounted devices, some of which were subsidized with taxpayer funds, and frequently pressured police departments to follow company talking points.
A December 2019 Gizmodo investigation that mapped Ring's surveillance network using metadata from videos posted to the Neighbors app found that cities around the United States were blanketed by Ring cameras, subjecting residents to widespread surveillance.
The Washington Post found that Ring had partnered with more than 400 police departments in the US as of August 2019-a figure that rose to more than 2,100 by July 2022, according to a letter Ring sent to US senator Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, who has introduced legislation that attempts to place limits on corporate-run surveillance networks like Ring's.
This Cyber News was published on www.wired.com. Publication date: Thu, 25 Jan 2024 00:13:04 +0000