Since 2019, two separate problems have raised concerns about ring camera privacy, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been formally notified of the issues. Amazon, who owns Ring, has now been fined, though it was only $5.8M.
The company was also fined $25M for using Alexa data from children to train its algorithms, something the FTC said was clearly illegal.
Ring Camera Privacy Breaches
Concerning access by police departments as well as Amazon employees, there were two issues. The FTC is only looking into the first of these and has fined them.
Cloud storage is used to store video from Ring security cameras. The first problem is that because these videos weren’t encrypted, staff members had access to both live and recorded feeds from customer cameras located all over the world. The customer’s email address was reportedly all that was required to gain access.
Multiple employees were let go for viewing customer videos without authorization because the company did not restrict or monitor staff access. A worker allegedly watched thousands of hours of private video of female Ring owners in one instance.
End-to-end encryption was finally offered by the company last year in an effort to prevent employees from accessing footage, but this came with some serious trade-offs.
Amazon told us:
Our primary goal has been and will continue to be providing the features and products that our customers adore while upholding our promise to keep their personal information and security secure. Long before the FTC launched its investigation, Ring swiftly addressed these issues on its own years ago. Despite our disagreement with the FTC’s accusations and denial of any legal violations, this settlement puts the matter to rest so that we can concentrate on developing new products for our clients.
Second, Ring gave email addresses of its customers to law enforcement agencies looking for video to aid in crime investigation.
Doorbell and other security video footage frequently plays a crucial role in identifying criminals and providing evidence that aids in their conviction. Motion sensors, for instance, could cause video recordings to start when someone breaks into a nearby building.
The issue was, however, that there was no transparency regarding the volume or character of these requests because police were given direct access to doorbell owners. Uninvolved neighbors and bystanders may be captured on camera, and the police may decide to keep the video of them on file indefinitely.
Subsequently, Amazon modified its US policy, increasing transparency and ensuring that such requests are not overly broad.
Read More: How to Turn Off Ring Camera?
Source: 9to5Mac
