What Did Amazon Do This Week? - 12-03-2023 [+30 LINKS]

RING HAS A BIG PRIVACY LOOPHOLE

Journos were busy prepping for SXSW before the colossal implosion of Silicon Valley Bank, so it was lucky Amazon had a semi-quiet week. The big news came from Ring, not the new doorbell that Amazon dropped, but that Ring complied with a US warrant to turn over video from inside Michael Larkin’s home and business to police investigating a neighbour. As the privacy-concerned amongst start screaming 'but the 4th amendment' into their screens, know that a judge gave this the green light due to a privacy loophole surrounding the doorbell +10 million Americans have on their doors (there are even more non-Ring devices out there).

Politico broke this story and detailed the stored footage loophole; "As networked home surveillance cameras become more popular, Larkin's case, which has not previously been reported, illustrates a growing collision between the law and people's own expectation of privacy for the devices they own." Ring servers store data for up to 180 days, have wide angles and are motion activated, so there is little way of escaping being filmed. You are only one warrant away from being surveilled by your neighbours, and even they might not know.

Ring responded through a spokesperson (Brendan Daley); "We review all legal documents served on us, and if we have reason to believe that a demand is overbroad, we question the request and may ask law enforcement to suggest a more limited production of information." Ring could have lessened the impact of this story by showing examples or providing data where this has been the case but has yet to do so (and was under no legal obligation to do so). If such numbers aren't published anywhere on a website that is easy to find, know that the numbers likely don't go in the company's favour.

The EFF's Jen Lynch rightly points out this "...really takes the control out of the hands of the homeowners, and I think that's hugely problematic...In a warrant for electronic data, the account may have a nearly unlimited amount of data associated with it."

SO WHAT?

Ring has given up data and ruffled feathers before. Police forces across the US have been accessing data for use with crimes and other issues for years thanks to overly-broad warrants and frail standards of proof. Technology can improve people's lives; but how we use it (and it gets used against us) matters. The next move will be for Ring, and companies like it, to review terms and conditions (don’t hold your breath) before the government catches up and forces them to do it (more likely).

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