Washington, DC | www.adc.org | October 9, 2019
ADC and over 30 other Civil Rights organizations have submitted a letter to lawmakers concerning the Amazon Ring Video Doorbell Home Security Service, demanding action be taken to regulate this unfettered law enforcement surveillance tool.
Amazon’s Ring Video Doorbell and Home security Service has partnered with 500 police departments across the country by using its video to investigate crime. Ring and its partner app Neighbors claim their mission is to “make neighborhoods safer,” however, it works hand in hand with surveillance and profits on consumer fears. More often than not, these fears tap into racist biases and exacerbate them. Racism and Racial Profiling have already proliferated on the app.
Part of the submitted letter reads: “With no oversight and accountability, Amazon’s technology creates a seamless and easily automated experience for police to request and access footage without a warrant, and then store it indefinitely. In the absence of clear civil liberties and rights-protective policies to govern the technologies and the use of their data, once collected, stored footage can be used by law enforcement to conduct facial recognition searches, target protesters exercising their First Amendment rights, teenagers for minor drug possession, or shared with other agencies like ICE or the FBI.”
The full letter can be read below or at Fight for the Future’s website:
For more information on the technology, see this article from The Washington Post
For more information on the overlaps between Code Bias, Facial Recognition, and Racism, see this article from The New York Times