Amazon.com’s Ring gave police data without user consent 11 times in 2022
2022.07.13 22:21
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics centre in Boves, France, August 8, 2018. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s Ring doorbell unit, which makes videos of the outside of an owner’s home, gave footage to law enforcement without the user’s consent 11 times so far this year, the company said.
Amazon said it provided the video under emergency circumstances. Senator Edward Markey, a lawmaker interested in privacy, on Wednesday released a letter from Amazon on the topic that was a response to his inquiry to the company.
“In each instance, Ring made a good-faith determination that there was an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to a person requiring disclosure of information without delay,” wrote Brian Huseman, vice president of public policy for Amazon.
The company also said that it had 2,161 law enforcement agencies on its Neighbors Public Safety Service, which allows police and others to ask Ring owners for footage.
“Increasing law enforcement reliance on private surveillance creates a crisis of accountability,” Markey said in a statement.
Amazon.com did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the letter, Huseman declined to specify when Ring technology can capture audio and how sensitive the audio recordings are. Users can easily disable audio.
He also declined to pledge to make end-to-end encryption the default for Ring data. End-to-end encryption is available although it would disable some features.
Markey said that he was concerned that Amazon and other tech companies would begin using biometric data in their systems and noted that he and others had introduced a bill aimed at restricting law enforcement access to such information.
