Amazon helps police set up surveillance network with ring bells

If you walk in Bloomfield, New Jersey, chances are you'll be registered. But it's not a warehouse or warehouse security camera capturing images – it's probably a Ringing the door manufactured by Amazon.

While residential neighborhoods are generally not equipped with security cameras, the popularity of the intelligent doorbell has essentially created private surveillance networks powered by Amazon and promoted by the police.

Police services across the country, from big cities like Houston to cities with less than 30,000 inhabitants, have offered citizens free or discounted bells, sometimes using taxpayers' money to pay for the products they pay. Amazon. While group owners are expected to have the choice of providing police images, in some advertising gifts, the police ask recipients to deliver images on demand.

Ring said that he would start cracking down on the strings attached.

"Ring customers control their videos when they decide to share them and whether or not they want to buy a recording plan." Ring donated devices to partners. Neighboring law enforcement for them to provide them to members of their communities, "Ring said. in a report. "Ring does not support programs that require recipients to subscribe to a recording plan, or that Ring Device Sequences are shared as a condition for receiving a particular device." We are actively working with partners to ensure that this is reflected in their programs. "

While more surveillance footage in neighborhoods could help police investigate crimes, the impressive number of cameras operated by the Amazon Ring business raises privacy concerns involving both forces from the order and the giants of technology. You may recognize that Amazon is a place where to find economic deals with a one-day expedition, but critics pointed to the retail giant's companies with the application of the law, such as the provision of facial recognition tools.

But these cameras benefit multiple groups: the police can collect more video footage, while Amazon can charge new Ring owners up to $ 3 a month for Smart Door Subscription fees . Residents, meanwhile, have peace of mind, especially with the Neighbors application, basically a social network sharing camera stream.

"Our town is now fully covered with cameras," said Captain Vincent Kerney, commander of the detective bureau of the Bloomfield Police Department. "In every neighborhood of the city, there are Ring cameras."

The Bloomfield Police Department did not receive any free ring cameras, but this one was already popular in the city of about 50,000 residents.

More than 50 local police departments in the United States have partnered with Ring over the last two years, praising the fact that the product held by Amazon allows them to access security footage in areas lacking cameras , on the outskirts of the suburbs.

But privacy advocates argue that this partnership provides law enforcement with unprecedented oversight.

"What we have here is a perfect marriage between the forces of law and order and one of the largest companies in the world, creating conditions for a society that few people would want to be part of," he said. Mohammad Tajsar, attorney at ACLU Southern California.

Ring also talked about this blog post about how he deals with privacy issues with partnerships with the police.

"Our customers and users of the Neighbors app trust us to protect their homes and their communities and we take this responsibility extremely seriously," the company said.

How Neighbors works

Amazon bought Ring in 2018 for a billion dollars, and the manufacturer of smart bells and security cameras has helped expand the push of the smart homes of the retail giant.

This happened as consumers became more and more interested in new Internet-connected devices, from light bulbs to televisions to security cameras. Outside of Amazon, companies like Nest, which Google bought for $ 3.2 billion in 2014, also offers security cameras for homes. Strategy Analytics expects more than 3.4 million video doorbells to be sold in 2018.

Ring was courting local police services even before Amazon acquired it. The font is primarily interested in the Ring Neighbors app, a free download that allows users to share, view and comment on crime related information in their neighborhood as well than to download video clips from ring bells. Then the police woo the public to buy Ring.

"We encourage people in Mountain Brook to buy this type of technology and use the application," said Ted Cook, police chief of Mountain Brook, Alabama. "We see this as an attempt to create neighborhood digital surveillance."

When the police associate with Ring, she has access to a law enforcement dashboard, where she can geographically zone and request filmed footage at specific times. Law enforcement can only get images of the application if residents choose to send them. Otherwise, the police must summon Ring to appear.

Police said the app helped them solve crimes because locals usually sent images of thieves stealing packets or a suspicious car driving into the neighborhood.

These residents may feel safer because the program offers a direct line to the police.

"Someone who is investing in this ring is obviously concerned about his safety and his property," said Eric Piza, associate professor at the John Jay Criminal Justice College. "It seems like a fair compromise, they are probably doing very well, the police being able to look at the street from their house."

Despite its benefits, the relationship between the police and Ring raises concerns about surveillance and confidentiality, as Amazon works with law enforcement to cover communities with cameras.

Ring has had his own concerns about privacy. Last December, The Information reported that Ukrainian workers were viewing videos on its public application without the knowledge of customers. In a statement to TechCrunch following the report, the company said: "We take the privacy and security of our customers' personal information very seriously."

"Basically, we are creating a culture where everyone is the curious neighbor who looks out the window with his binoculars," said Dave Maass, chief researcher at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "It creates this giant data pool that allows the government to analyze every single one of our actions, whether a crime is committed or not."

Put a ring on it

On a Bloomfield heat map, there is virtually no place in New Jersey's township protected from a Ring camera.

Smart bells were already very popular in the community, said Kerney, and it made sense to associate with Ring for the law enforcement dashboard. Now, over those cameras apparently lit at each block, the police could ask residents for pictures just at the tap.

This is a huge leap compared to the number of surveillance images that the Bloomfield Police Department had access to before the Ring arrived in town.

Kerney said that he had started a surveillance recording of volunteers in 2017. Any place equipped with security cameras could register and provide pictures to the police.

Kerney recalled that nearly 442 places have registered. These were mainly businesses, since a large number of private residences did not have security cameras. But it's a drop of water in the bucket compared to the network that Ring has.

"There are probably 10 times more Ring cameras than we have anything else," he said.

Part of the massive adoption is due to the way popular products such as Ring and Google Nest have designed surveillance systems. They are no longer reserved for businesses: the smart home security camera market is expected to exceed $ 9.7 billion by 2023.

"In general, most people do not have large-scale surveillance systems at home," Kerney said. "But something simple like Ring, where you just plug it in? People will go for that."

The police services are adding to the Ring network to develop their surveillance networks.

In Hampton, Virginia, the police received 15 free ring cameras after a partnership with the company in March. The police department is still determining which neighborhoods they will distribute these cameras to.

Part of that includes working with the Crime Analysis Unit to determine which blocks could use the most these cameras, said Ashley Jenrette, a public information officer with the Hampton Police. .

Pay the price

Ring helps the police to avoid the obstacles related to surveillance technology, whether it is a lack of funding or public concerns about privacy.

"If the police department had to create a plan indicating where it would place all the cameras in the neighborhood, how much would it cost, and bring it to the city council, maybe there would be a debate," the mass of the EFF said. "There is a reason why we are asking for orders requiring the police department that it obtain the approval of the city council before acquiring a surveillance technology."

Several cities have laws requiring a public process to debate how the police use and buy surveillance technology. Community activists are fighting against tools such as facial recognition and automated license plate readers.

But when police and Amazon convince private residents to buy these cameras, they bypass this process while saving money for the city. Ring cameras can cost between $ 99 and $ 500.

"We do not have security cameras all over the city," Cook said. "It basically has the ability to create security camera technology throughout the city, and we ask citizens to participate and buy it themselves."

Some police services do more than ask. Police in Indiana, New Jersey, California and other states have offered discounts for ring cameras, sometimes up to $ 125. In some cases, these discounts come from taxpayer money.

"Part of the problem lies in the fact that the public financially subsidizes privacy breaches in their community when they do," said Tajsar.

In April, the city of Hammond, in Indiana, announced that it had $ 37,500 to subsidize Ring devices, half of which came from Ring. The remaining $ 18,750 came from the city, said Steve Kellogg, Hammond Police Service Information Officer.

The city had 500 cameras and in about a week they were all sold. The city government has put in place more discounted programs, said Kellogg, putting into operation more than 600 Ring cameras in the city.

"There will be more cameras on the streets," said Kellogg. "It's really a highlight."

Other cities will offer gifts, in the form of raffles or rewards for crime tips, as did the city of El Monte in Southern California.

Although the police must ask permission to obtain images, a gift to Houston has allowed police to get all the videos they need. Last March, in its promotional article, the Houston police wrote in its demands that the winners would agree to give the Houston police access to the cameras when requested.

"This model is the most disturbing because it basically consists of requisitioning people's homes as outposts for law enforcement agencies," Tajsar said.

Houston police did not respond to requests for comment. Ring stated that she did not support this model and that she contacted police partners to make sure that this was not an obligation for the gifts offered by Ring .

It is unlikely that police services will run out of cameras. In several cities, Ring donates a camera for 20 people registered to the application. This is why some police departments have pushed more citizens to sign up.

The promotion of cameras by the police also contributes to the profits of Amazon. Even when Ring offers free cameras or grants, it quickly finds a return on investment.

You do not need to have a subscription to Ring, but it's the only way to store recorded footage from the camera. The cheapest plan starts at $ 3 a month. Even when Amazon donated $ 18,750 to Hammond's grant program, it could pay for itself in less than a year with 600 new subscriptions.

"While the maintenance of order is more focused on technology, we have this new issue of the police acting in the interest of commercial companies," said Piza.

Combining technology

Even though Bloomfield is riddled with Ring cameras, people have not flooded the police with ringtones at the door, Kerney said.

In the past two weeks, he has sent out a dozen requests related to robberies, burglaries and stolen cars, but most of them have remained unanswered, said the detective bureau commander.

When Neighbors users do not respond, the police go down the street and start knocking on doors asking for footage in person. People are much more cooperative when an officer is at their door asking for a footage on Ring, he said. Civil society lawyers argue that people do not really have a choice.

"You change the way you drive when you see a cop driving next to you, what if a cop came to your door and asked for something?" Said Tajsar. "Even if you are the greatest civil libertarian, you will feel obliged to hand over these images."

And Ring is not limited to Amazon's own technology, have discovered police departments technology-savvy.

Last December, while Ring was considering facial recognition of doorbell cameras, Ring had to deal with violent reactions, but the police can use images provided by residents with their own algorithms.

Depending on the configuration of the Ring camera, it can capture the movements in the streets, like passing cars. Kellogg noted that Hammond used automated license plate readers and could use Ring camera sequences to locate vehicles.

The police can enter the details of a car captured in Ring footage, perform a search in the license plate reading system and determine the owner and address of the car, did you? -he adds.

"It's something unheard of," Kellogg said. "Now that Ring is recording all vehicle movements, we may not see anyone ringing at the door, but if it passes, Ring will turn on and capture that vehicle."

Residents may not be aware of it when they deliver the video. Requests for Ring videos often come from the Neighbors app and only ask for evidence of reported incidents, with no details about the use of the clips.

"If the public wants to share these images with the police, he must know what's the point," said Maass.

Originally released at 5:00 am Pacific Time.
Updated at 07:55 (Pacific Time): Adds other Ring statements.