Government officials could include any “regulatory agency or legislative committee that issues a legally binding request for information,” Rall says. Rings’ terms of service say that the company may “access, use, preserve and/or disclose” videos and audio to “law enforcement authorities, government officials, and/or third parties” if it is legally required to do so or needs to in order to enforce its terms of service or address security issues. “There is nothing mandating Ring build a tool that is easily accessible and helpful to police,” Guariglia says. Documents have shown how Ring also controls the public messaging of police departments it has partnered with. By the start of 2021, Ring had partnered with more than 2,000 US law enforcement and fire departments. For years, the company has partnered with law enforcement agencies, providing them with cameras and doorbells that can be given to residents. Ring’s deals with police forces-both in the US and the UK-have proved controversial. “We would provide additional notice or get permission as needed,” Rall says. Ring spokesperson Sarah Rall says this could apply if the company added features or use cases that are not already covered by its privacy policy. “Deleted Content and Ring Protect Recordings may be stored by Ring in order to comply with certain legal obligations and are not retrievable without a valid court order,” the privacy policy says. The company says people can log in to the service to delete the videos, but the company may ultimately keep them anyway. Ring’s privacy policy says it can save videos of subscribers to its Ring Protect Plan, a paid service that provides an archive of 180 days of video and audio captured. “We are in danger of increasing surveillance of everyday life in a way that is not consistent with either our expected views or really what’s best for society.” In October 2021, a British woman won a court case that said her neighbor’s Ring cameras, which overlooked her house and garden, broke data laws. “We operate with a sense of obscurity, even in public,” Dellinger says. Jolynn Dellinger, a senior lecturing fellow focusing on privacy and ethics at Duke University’s school of law, says recording audio when someone is on the street is a “serious problem” for privacy and may change how people behave. According to tests by Consumer Reports, some Ring cameras can record audio from about 20 feet away. This means there’s a good chance cameras can be triggered by people walking down the street or pick up conversations of passersby. Ring says its cameras can detect movement “up to 155 degrees horizontally” and across distances of up to 25 feet. Ring can also collect the video and audio your camera records-the system doesn’t record all the time, but it can be triggered when it senses movement. “Most immediately, it impacts the people who walk down the streets every day, where the cameras are pointing out.” “Ring impacts everybody’s privacy,” says Matthew Guariglia, a policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Videos shared from security cameras and internet-connected doorbells have also become common on platforms like Facebook and TikTok, raking in millions of views. While the cameras can provide homeowners with reassurance that their property is secure, critics say the systems also run the risk of reinforcing racism and racial profiling and eroding people’s privacy. Ring has simultaneously drawn controversy for making deals (and sharing data) with thousands of police departments, helping expand and normalize suburban surveillance, and falling to a string of hacks. Since Amazon splashed out more than a billion dollars for the company in 2018, Ring’s security products have exploded in popularity. It’s even more likely that the camera will be made by Ring, the doorbell and security camera firm owned by Amazon. Government CCTV cameras may record your stroll, but it is increasingly likely that you’ll also be captured by one of your neighbors’ security cameras or doorbells. If you walk through your local neighborhood-providing you live in a reasonably large town or city-you’ll be caught on camera.
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