
Amazon is helping police build a surveillance network with Ring doorbells - jbegley
https://www.cnet.com/features/amazons-helping-police-build-a-surveillance-network-with-ring-doorbells/
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supergeek133
"While Ring owners are supposed to have a choice on providing police footage,
in some giveaways, police require recipients to turn over footage when
requested."

AND

"Ring does not support programs that require recipients to subscribe to a
recording plan or that footage from Ring devices be shared as a condition for
receiving a donated device. We are actively working with partners to ensure
this is reflected in their programs."

The story should have ended there. But I'll bite on the more IoT fear-
mongering.

This type of offer is normal. Your power company will ask for API access to
your smart thermostat OR put a switch on your house in exchange for turning
off your A/C when it's hot.

If you're worried about the privacy angle, pay full price for it. Also ring
said they're not going to allow it like that.

But think about it like this, if you're a restaurant in a mall, and your
cameras catch something the cops request that footage all the time. In some
cases it's part of a warrant or subpoena when you aren't even part of the
investigation.

Unless a municipality or police force mandates you install these AND share
access to the footage, I don't see the issue.

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username444
I wonder if placing the doorbell facing the door, rather than street, is a
workaround for this.

Most people have porches, with a column, and while running wires could be
tedious, it means you'll never have valuable footage for law enforcement,
except in your own cases.

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harlanji
App idea: log known Ring locations’ gps coordinates and direction and produce
a simple Watcraft 2 style fog of war map.

Bonus: Stimulates PR.

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mc32
That sounds like a map for a place to not commit crime—which is probably okay
by the owners.

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tomcam
Does anyone in the Seattle area have any evidence that they police are
responding to any of these property crimes?

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devoply
I guess it's probably a business play in that their packages keep getting
stolen so if they did this they could stop their packages from getting stolen.
But it's a stupid thing to do, where Apple is going for privacy as a
competitive advantage and Google keeps getting flack for it -- why not side
with privacy as a business advantage rather than surveillance to solve your
rather small business problem.

I have bought into the Alexa ecosystem. It would be nice if that Eco-system
respected privacy. I would be more committed to it if that were the case,
rather than looking to switch to Apple the first chance I get.

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smegmasamurai
while walking my dog in my neighborhood i've noticed that every house has
multiple cameras monitoring entryways, and almost always pointing at the
street.

everyone wants to be safe that's for sure but if you really think about the
fact that someone is always watching you when you're walking through your
neighborhood it's creepy.

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mikestew
As one who has four cameras pointing toward the street, I for one have better
things to do than sit in my cave watching my multi-view camera setup for
untoward things. Never give me a reason to rewind the recording, and you'll
never be watched. I assume my neighbors are doing the same thing. Shit, I
don't have time to edit my vacation videos, you think I got time to watch
video of you walking your dog?

If it makes you feel any better, the video never leaves my local network. :-)

~~~
OrgNet
But a lot of the cameras that people install are Cloud-only (not possible to
record locally)... And who knows what kind of software Amazon/Google/etc run
on those videos. And what is in the cloud, I don't think that the Government
needs a warrant to see it.

