
Amazon's Home Surveillance Chief Declared War on “Dirtbag Criminals” - longdefeat
https://theintercept.com/2019/02/14/amazon-ring-police-surveillance/
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mc32
I get the privacy implications, but this article adds unnecessary
fearmongering with sensationalist racism (apparently author is unfamiliar with
non-white neighborhoods b/c just as whites, non whites will also report
suspicious activity).

From what I’ve witnessed, these services have indeed aided residents to
cooperate against “dirtbag” criminals as well as supply imagery to police as
evidence and has led to arrests and convictions (in my neighborhood, at
least). It gives all types of residents some comfort that the perps will get
caught rather than the police saying “sorry, we don’t have evidence, and don’t
have time to follow up on non violent crime”.

Residents are going to deploy this. That’s a given. At this time owners
control access. If there comes a time when one loses control over this content
unilaterally, then it will be a problem.

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thoughtpol
This is honestly one of the issues I have with journalism today. As a non-
white person I do not need a white savior. I just want to be treated equally,
I do not need to be coddled or "protected". I have thick skin; I am not a
child. Sorry for the rant mc32. Services like this have helped to curb
delivery thefts, scam visits, etc near me. And I agree with you if the
resident is stripped of their control I can see it becoming a huge problem.

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towaway1138
Not sure I get the part about filming "public spaces". Wasn't this always
legal? Isn't that part of what "public" means?

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mimixco
You have to ask yourself, why is a retail company (which started as an online
bookstore) in the least bit interested in the police business?

This is a disturbing trend. It seems that, as tech companies get larger, they
are giving themselves over to the surveillance state with ever more
enthusiasm.

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tj-teej
I would think it's to improve reliability of their deliveries. I see why you
would be concerned, but retail stores have had security guards for my whole
lifetime...

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mc32
Yep. Both Fed-Ex and Amazon have an interest in preventing theft as well as
fraud (false claims of non-delivery), and they see a business opportunity in
addition to shrinkage minimization with the perk of customer psychological
comfort to boot.

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mimixco
Give me a break. This is not about shoplifting in retail stores! Amazon is now
helping cops surveille people in their own homes via Alexa and Ring.

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mc32
Theft = vernacular porch piracy. Prevention = happy shoppers. Happy shoppers =
more sales. More sales = happy company.

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mimixco
Shoppers do not care about package theft or any other loss- making properties
of a business.

Show me one place where package theft is even mentioned on Ring's website or
in their doc. Is isn't.

It naive to think that Amazon is worried about package theft and that's why
they bought Ring. Too many other tech companies have signed up for the
surveillance economy for that to be true.

What's the real reason?

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masonic

      Shoppers do not care about package theft
    

Collectively, shoppers pay for all package theft.

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mimixco
That is true. But we also pay for pensions, profits, advertising, union-
busting, pollution, and countless other things we may not want to pay for.

Ultimately, the consumer only cares about what product he is getting and what
price he has to pay. How the company juggles its losses or where they come
from is of no interest to the product purchaser.

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jbarberu
As long as people don't point their cameras at public spaces, i.e. the
streets, I don't see a problem with this. I wouldn't personally trust a
company to handle my video feed, but that's just me.

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tracker1
What's wrong with pointing a camera at a public space?

