Amazon has partnered with law enforcement to allow them to directly request video from owners of Ring cameras. It's supposed to be up to the Ring camera owner to decide whether to provide the video. However, critics are arguing that this is part of an effort to build the
largest surveillance network ever in the US.
Do you trust Bezos to safeguard your data? DHS is already actively spying on and kidnapping everyday citizens with other appropriated data.
Ars Technica:
Ring cameras are about to get increasingly chummy with law enforcement
Law enforcement agencies will soon have easier access to footage captured by Amazon’s Ring smart cameras. In a partnership announced this week, Amazon will allow approximately 5,000 local law enforcement agencies to request access to Ring camera footage via surveillance platforms from Flock Safety. Ring’s cooperation with law enforcement and the reported use of Flock technologies by federal agencies, including US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has resurfaced privacy concerns that have followed the devices for years.
CNBC:
Amazon Ring security cameras moving deeper into law enforcement
he Ring Community Requests feature will be available for use with the FlockOS and Flock Nova platforms that are contracted by local public safety agencies. That will enable law enforcement officers to directly request video evidence from Ring cameras, but citizens will make the decision whether to share video. Police requests will go into what is called the Ring Neighbors feed, which pings camera users within an area identified as relevant to the crime, and camera owners can then share video, which is kept in a secure environment and can only be used for the single crime investigation.
Futurism:
Fury as Amazon Ring Cameras Are Hooked Up to ICE System
Safety experts and tech critics have long condemned the Ring devices for security risks and privacy violations, not to mention their role in building the largest civilian surveillance network in US history. Last summer, the Electronic Frontier Foundation warned that Ring was actively eroding civil liberties in the US for profit.
Those criticisms are seeing renewed urgency amidst ICE’s brutal crackdown on illegal immigration. Though unlawful entry into the United States is only considered a civil violation, ICE enforcement activities under president Donald Trump have resulted in at least 33 deaths — not to mention the unlawful detention of over 170 US citizens.