Amazon cannot be trusted. The surveillance partnerships between police and Amazon’s doorbell camera company, Ring, threaten our privacy, civil rights, and security. Tell Congress to investigate Amazon.

John,

Amazon cannot be trusted. The surveillance partnerships between police and Amazon’s doorbell camera company, Ring, threaten our privacy, civil rights, and security.

Amazon denies integrating facial recognition software with Ring technology—yet Ring’s Ukranian office tests facial recognition technology on user footage. They claim that police won’t ever have direct access to user footage—but they experimented with a feature for 911 calls to trigger Ring doorbell cameras to wake up and livestream for police use.1,2,3

Amazon isn’t telling the truth. Tell Congress to investigate Amazon’s creepy surveillance empire.

TAKE ACTION

The security threats are worrisome. Amazon Ring employees in the US and Ukraine access and share user footage. Insecure cloud-connected live camera feeds are vulnerable to cyber-attacks or stalkers. A foreign government or bad actor could buy access to user footage—a literal eye inside millions of American’s homes and neighborhoods.4,5

Millions of Americans buy Amazon Ring products, unaware of the concerns and dangers the technology and partnerships pose. Amazon wants to keep it that way.

We need Congress to hold public hearings and openly question Amazon executives about the security, privacy, and civil liberties threats that Amazon’s surveillance programs pose to the country and the American people. Click here to tell Congress to investigate Amazon.

For a surveillance-free future,

Ayele at Fight for the Future

Footnotes:

1. The Information: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/at-rings-r-d-team-security-gaps-and-rookie-engineers.html

2. Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/12/13/this-patent-shows-amazon-may-seek-create-database-suspicious-persons-using-facial-recognition-technology/

3. CNET.https://www.cnet.com/news/amazons-ring-wanted-to-use-911-calls-to-activate-its-video-doorbells/

4. The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/10/18177305/ring-employees-unencrypted-customer-video-amazon

5. The Intercept: https://theintercept.com/2019/01/10/amazon-ring-security-camera/

 

Fight for the Future works to protect your rights in the digital age.

PO Box 55071 #95005 Boston, MA 02205

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