
Ring has given 400+ police departments access to doorbell cameras - Trisell
https://m.sfgate.com/news/article/Doorbell-camera-firm-Ring-has-partnered-with-400-14383981.php
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adossi
So the police requests access to the footage for a specific time, the
homeowner has to agree to it, and then Amazon/Ring hands it over? If the
homeowner declines, then the neighbor agrees, the police can still (most
likely) see what they were trying to see. This has got some creepy
implications that basically means the more of these Ring cameras are out
there, the more power the police has in terms of surveillance. The homeowner's
permission is completely useless since there are likely other homeowners in
the area that will agree.

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jellicle
Or the police request access, the homeowner denies it, the police get a search
warrant for certain data on Ring's servers, Ring provides it without comment.

Everyone's happy! The homeowner has preserved their privacy by smugly clicking
"no", the police are browsing all the footage from the camera anyway. Job well
done.

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bagacrap
If a judge approves a search warrant, what's the issue? Your constitutional
rights are not being infringed. I am afraid of the police (or CIA, etc) acting
illegally but if the judiciary I'm probably ok with it.

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noderat
This is the problem with this new wave of devices that only work when
connected to the manufacturer's cloud service. There needs to be more focus on
devices and software that allow you to run completely independently of the
manufacturer's servers. The Home Assistant project has been a blessing in this
area, but many devices either lack support or must have custom firmware to
work in an "offline" mode.

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ryanmercer
I see nothing wrong with this.

People have no right to get mad that a law enforcement agency wants the video
that may have captured a crime, of a product that is marketed to help the
consumer catch people in the act of a crime that records everyone that passes
in front of it without their permission. It's not like you go to your
neighbors and say "please sign this release so I can record you if you cross
in front of my camera".

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err4nt
Like a lot of these IOT things, this is "not your doorbell", it's just a
doorbell you get the privilege of using.

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sorval
I'd be curious as to whether it loses ring some sales.

