Amazon has shared surveillance video recorded by its doorbell camera system without giving a ring to users for their prior consent.
The company has handed over video recordings from Ring doorbells without first notifying the owners in at least 11 instances so far this year, Amazon confirmed in a letter, marking the first time the company has admitted to handing over this type of information. The revelation comes as members of Congress scrutinize the tech giant for its privacy practices, and it raises questions about the ways in which law enforcement gains access to security footage.
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“Most requests were for video related to relatively serious crimes like ‘vehicle burglaries and robberies, 2 shootings, home burglaries and robberies, and stolen vehicles.’ NYU’s audit did not establish that Requests for Assistance contribute to over-policing of low-level offenses,” Amazon said in a letter to Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), who requested the information in mid-June. “Ring makes a good-faith determination whether the request meets the well-known standard, grounded in federal law, that there is imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to any person requiring disclosure of information without delay.”
For doorbell owners who subscribe to the Ring Protect Plan, all recordings are stored in the customer’s account with standard retention that periodically deletes files or allows the user to delete recordings manually, according to the company. For those without a subscription, audio and video recordings are not stored.
For each of the 11 instances in which Amazon handed over the video recordings, the company had determined “there was an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury” that required law enforcement to have access to the footage. Law enforcement officers can typically gain access to Ring footage from Amazon, which bought the doorbell company in 2018, but the tech giant has maintained it usually informs users before providing any data.
Markey had requested the information after the company released findings from an independent audit conducted by the Policing Project at New York University’s School of Law. The final report recommended several changes to Amazon, resulting in new policies that help “ensure transparency in how public safety agencies can ask their communities for information or video as part of an active investigation,” the company said.
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The audit found that most requests from law enforcement are related to violent crimes, with 16% stemming from shootings or homicide cases.
“We will continue to prioritize privacy, security, and user control as we pursue and improve technologies to help achieve our mission of making neighborhoods safer,” the company wrote.
