Who’s Watching Your Porch?
26th January 2020
Ring offers a front-door view of a country where millions of Amazon customers use Amazon cameras to watch Amazon contractors deliver Amazon packages.
I have a Ring doorbell, and my problem with it is that it is too slow — by the time the video comes up on my computer screen, the person on the porch has decided that there is nobody home and has wandered off.
More than 500 police departments have partnered with the company, gaining access to a service called Neighbors Portal, which allows users to “ask Ring to request video footage from device owners who are in the area of an active investigation,” according to the company. (This footage is often shared by law enforcement with media organizations for broadcast segments.) Some police departments assist in marketing Ring devices to local citizens, in some cases offering government-subsidized discounts, according to documents obtained by Vice.
Got no problem with that. Cops want my video, they’re welcome to it. Wish there were some way I could send it to them automatically with a complaint. Maybe next year.
Ring’s efforts to court law enforcement have drawn scrutiny from civil-rights organizations for violating the privacy of users and the subjects of their recordings, and for encouraging profiling by race.
Once you step on my property, you got no privacy. If you don’t want to be ‘racially profiled’, don’t belong to a race that has a high crime rate … or move to Chicago.
January 27th, 2020 at 12:34
My neighbor helped catch a criminal with his security cams. Guy going through the neighborhood supposedly selling replacement windows. At some point, he and an accomplice tried to kidnap a young girl. She got away and gave a description. My neighbor heard the description on the news, called the sheriff’s office, and they showed the video to the girl. She ID’d the perp. He had left a brochure with me, so the cops called the number and pretended to be interested in buying windows. The criminal showed up and was promptly arrested. Sort of a Darwin Meets Amazon moment.
January 28th, 2020 at 00:06
We have the technology.