Ring video doorbells, Amazon’s signature home security product, pose a serious threat to a free and democratic society.
Not only is Ring’s surveillance network spreading rapidly, it is extending the reach of law enforcement into private property and expanding the surveillance of everyday life.
Ring is effectively building the largest corporate-owned, civilian-installed surveillance network that the US has ever seen.
An estimated 400,000 Ring devices were sold in December 2019 alone, and that was before the across-the-board boom in online retail sales during the pandemic.
The always-on video surveillance network extends even further when you consider the millions of users on Ring’s affiliated crime reporting app, Neighbors, which allows people to upload content from Ring and non-Ring devices.
In doing so, Ring blurs the line between police work and civilian surveillance and turns your neighbor’s home security system into an informant.
Although Ring doesn’t currently use facial recognition in its cameras, Amazon has sold this technology to police in the past. »
