Ring, Amazon’s home surveillance company, will stop letting police departments request video footage directly from users in its app, the company said in a blog post on Wednesday. However, that doesn’t change the massive amount of footage the company, itself, shares with law enforcement. Ring has historically shared tons of footage with cops, and Amazon came under fire for reportedly handing a full day’s worth of footage to local authorities in March, despite the homeowner’s wishes to not help in prosecuting his neighbor.
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“This week, we are also sunsetting the Request for Assistance (RFA) tool,” said Eric Kuhn, Ring’s head of neighbors in the blog. “[Fire and police departments] will no longer be able to use the RFA tool to request and receive video in the app.”
Approved police departments could make voluntary requests to users in Ring’s Neighbors App, but now that feature is going away. Law enforcement can still request Ring’s videos through search warrants, which they’re required to comply with by law, but that process is more difficult to navigate than just asking a user to cough up their footage through an app.
Ring does not say why it’s removing this tool, but the company has a long history of working with the police to use its massive network of video cameras. The company underscores privacy in its home security systems but has quietly created one of the country’s largest surveillance operations. Amazon’s Ring has even become one of the few companies to censor the police, barring New Jersey authorities from using the word surveillance to describe its products. For some reason, Ring has decided it’s no longer going to give police access in this way.
Amazon publishes transparency reports, like many companies, detailing how many police requests for information Ring receives every year. In the first six months of 2023, Ring received over 2,000 requests for information from government officials. In 40% of those cases, Ring handed over video content from user accounts. The company also handed over other account information to authorities such as names, addresses, and billing information.
“As we look to the future of Neighbors, we’re focusing our resources on delivering new product and app experiences that better empower our customers,” said a Ring spokesperson in an emailed statement to Gizmodo. The spokesperson did not comment on why police requests through the app were being shuttered.
Gizmodo stopped reviewing Ring products in 2019 due to privacy concerns and noted why you should not get someone a Ring Camera as a gift. Ever since Amazon bought Ring in 2018, both companies have faced extreme scrutiny, including five U.S. Senators writing a letter to Jeff Bezos over security concerns.
The removal of police video requests via the app seems to be a huge win for privacy advocates, but it’s unclear how this policy will really play out. It takes away an easier avenue for law enforcement to access Ring’s videos, requiring them to go through a more arduous process by obtaining a search warrant or contacting the homeowner themselves.
Companies are required to comply with government agency requests for information and can be taken to court over the matter. A company can reject requests if they’re too broad, but Ring has historically worked with local authorities with its treasure trove of video. Amazon previously called stories about Ring cooperating with the police “a hoax.”
Correction 1:25 PM: A previous version of this article indicated that Amazon would not provide Ring footage to law enforcement at all. Compliance with search warrants is required under law. That’s not a policy that Amazon can change but it could implement end-to-end encryption systems to make such requests more difficult.