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Hi,
We just learned that Amazon’s already problematic Ring service is getting even worse.
New reporting shows that Ring is handing surveillance footage to over 400 police departments across the country.1 Which means Amazon is turning cops into high-tech marketing recruiters and turning nosy neighbors into narcs.
Tell Amazon: Stop giving law enforcement access to doorbell camera footage!
Amazon likes to market their tech gadgets and services as new tools built to make life more convenient, just like Amazon Prime. But by giving cops access to doorbell cameras in over 400 communities, there’s one group of people Amazon is intentionally making life harder for: Black and brown people.
Racial profiling in law enforcement can be already deadly for black and brown people. And now with Amazon Ring, neighbors can alert armed police officers to any variety of totally legal behaviors like, “delivering food and packages while Black,” “walking your dog while Black,” or “canvassing for a political candidate while Black.”
And it gets worse. Amazon and their new best friends in the police department aren’t being transparent with how much video footage police can access, how long they can store it, and whether or not they can use this footage with Amazon’s other terrifyingly racist tech service: facial recognition.
Amazon is giving racism a high-tech upgrade, and it’s up to grassroots consumers like you and me to bring pressure to the tech giant. Tell Amazon: Stop giving cops access to doorbell camera footage!
Thanks for taking action,
Tihi and the team at Demand Progress
Sources:
1. Washington Post, “Doorbell-camera firm Ring has partnered with 400 police forces, extending surveillance concerns,” August 28, 2019.
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