Amazon's home security division Ring is not only working with law enforcement and trying to collect 911 call data. It's also reportedly coaching police on how to get people to hand over their surveillance footage without a warrant, according to Motherboard.
Ring's "Law Enforcement Neighborhood Portal" shows police where Ring cameras are located on a map and makes it easy for them to request access to footage from individual Ring units without a warrant. Although the owners of the units are not legally obliged to hand over the footage, they may not feel comfortable turning down a request from law enforcement.
The emails obtained by Motherboard show Ring coaches the police on the best way to obtain footage, and provides tools like templates police can use when interacting with Ring owners and requesting footage. Ring also encourages police to post on its neighborhood watch app, Neighbors, saying such posting is "critical in increasing the opt-in rate" of people willing to share their recordings.
Even if a Ring owner does deny the request for footage, the police can still contact Amazon directly and request the footage through them, as reported by GovTech. If the request comes within 60 days and the footage has been uploaded to the cloud, Ring will hand it over. This essentially means that police have access to Ring footage whenever they want, even against the wishes of Ring owners.
Source: Motherboard
Tech
via https://www.aiupnow.com
, Khareem Sudlow
