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If you own a Ring doorbell, police can keep your footage forever

You can still refuse to hand over the footage initially, however.

Ring doorbell with police in background
Image: KnowTechie

Ring, the Amazon-owned company that sells home security doorbell systems, has partnered with more than 600 police forces across the country. This partnership has led to some questionable activities.

With the release of Ring’s Neighborhoods social network, it has given police a concerning amount of access to all sorts of footage. To keep piling on the concerns, Amazon confirms something else. The Washington Post reports that not only can police forces associated with Ring request footage, but they also keep it and share it within the force.

READ MORE: Ring is giving your camera footage to police without a warrant

This kind of screams “violation of privacy,” don’t you think?

Ring footage can be obtained by police and shared with anyone they want to share it with

Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey published a report about his concerns with Ring and how it affects its customers. Within the report, Markey found that there aren’t a lot of restrictions on the police.

Amazon Ring’s policies are an open door for privacy and civil liberty violations. If you’re an adult walking your dog or a child playing on the sidewalk, you shouldn’t have to worry that Ring’s products are amassing footage of you and that law enforcement may hold that footage indefinitely or share that footage with any third parties.

Amazon Vice President of Public Policy, Brian Huseman responded to Markey’s findings. In his own letter, Huseman states that Ring customers can refuse to hand over their security footage to the police. He describes it as “the same way they would traditionally answer the door or respond to a public request for tips.”  Huseman also mentions that this footage-sharing idea was put in place to help police investigate neighborhood crimes.

Amazon does have good intentions with Ring. However, this situation would certainly make potential customers uneasy about buying one of their doorbells.

What do you think? Surprised by the news? Does this make you think twice about using a Ring camera? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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