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Ring was one of the first companies to brand video doorbells and has since expanded to other home security products. Equally part of its aggressive strategy after the Amazon acquisition, Ring has partnered with hundreds of police departments across the US. This program has proven controversial, and information technology becomes more so with each new report. According to a new leak, Ring'due south pitch to police sometimes includes a map of agile Ring customers, something information technology previously said it would not do.

Ring's current strategy seems to be signing up every bit many police force enforcement organizations every bit possible to be partners. The agreements signed with law call for departments to promote Ring products, in some cases creating new positions specifically to coordinate with the company and residents. Buy getting residents to sign up for the Ring Neighbors app, police earn credit toward free cameras they can distribute to the customs. The benefit to police is access to the Band Neighbors portal. There, police force tin request access to video clips from doorbells effectually their jurisdiction.

Band has long maintained that it protects the privacy of users in the Neighbors portal. The newly leaked emails and documents certainly call that into question. The emails chronicle to Ring's bargain with Georgia'south Gwinnett County Police Department. A Ring representative shared two maps with the police, both showing active Ring photographic camera locations inside Gwinnett Canton. One map was zoomed out, showing only an unresolved blob of cherry-red dots, but the other was more zoomed in, showing more accurately where the cameras were.

The maps of agile Ring cameras provided past Ring to Gwinnett County Police.

In the months after the maps went out, Ring and Gwinnett County went back and forth to hammer out the deal. Ring eventually provided almost $15,000 worth of cameras to get police started. Like other leaked "Memorandums of Understanding," the agreement with Gwinnett County required the police force to spend fourth dimension promoting Band'south products and services. In some cases, police force fifty-fifty provide Ring with access to 911 phone call information in club to post updates in the Neighbors app. The company believes this helps encourage users to engage with police and provide video footage when asked.

On some level, it'due south not outlandish to help people voluntarily provide video footage to police. Police accept long washed the same thing only by canvassing areas around crime scenes for security cameras.SEEAMAZON_ET_135 See Amazon ET commerce The issue cited by privacy advocates is how easy Ring makes information technology for police to asking mountains of data they may not need. Ring itself also has a sordid history. It's been less than a twelvemonth since Band came under fire for giving employees total access to customer video. It's hard to trust Ring to run a surveillance operation with police force in an ethical mode with no oversight.

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