🧬 Book ‘em, Danno: A 65-year-old Massachusetts suspect was arrested for a 1988 crime after police collected his spit from the sidewalk. They matched his saliva to DNA found under the victim’s fingernails, a bloody T-shirt and a cigarette left at the crime scene. The victim was a 25-year-old Boston woman with a toddler at home.
Ring privacy: Here's how many video requests police and fire departments made last year
Footage captured by video doorbells could help police departments solve criminal cases. That’s the reasoning behind Amazon’s Ring network, which helps law enforcement in almost every state. Ring is partnered with over 2,000 police and fire departments across the U.S.
This partnership goes back to 2015 when Ring let the Los Angeles Police Department see how front-door footage could reduce property crimes. Since then, the Ring program exploded, spreading to cities across the nation.
Want to see if your local department may swing by for your footage? Tap or click here for an interactive map to see if your city has a partnership with Ring. Keep reading for details on how police are using Ring to catch criminals, along with the biggest concerns among privacy advocates.
Could this create a national surveillance network?
Back in 2018, Amazon bought Ring for $839 million. When Amazon took over, business with police started booming, especially once cops started joining the Neighbors app, through which users can share videos with others nearby.
Now, Ring’s partnership with law enforcement agencies is spreading faster than ever before. Just how often are Ring videos requested? According to Ring, departments requested security camera videos for more than 22,335 incidents last year alone.
Ring says this program helps police crack cases, but many people worry about civil liberties.
Although police can’t demand homeowners to surrender Ring footage without a warrant, they’ve created a loophole. Some police departments hand out Ring video doorbells for free — as long as you hand over footage whenever they ask.
Now, here’s how video requesting works. Police can send you a notification through your Ring app requesting permission to see your videos. They do this with a feature called “Video Requests.” Find out more about it in this video:
If you want to grant them permission, you can send over your footage. Remember, though: You have the option to say no.
You can opt out of this program through your app
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30-second Amazon privacy fix you need to do right now
Amazon has a way of creeping into our lives and making things incredibly easy. With convenience, there are often trade-offs. Many people are unaware that they have a public profile on Amazon.
Your public profile is created automatically, whether you want it or not, and it contains your comments and any ratings that you have left on products purchased on Amazon. Your biographical information and other site interactions are also posted to your profile.