by Karl Denninger, Market Ticker:

Note the headline on this article…..

Amazon’s doorbell-camera company, Ring, has partnered with more than 400 law enforcement agencies to give them access to video footage from outside homes, a new initiative that’s raised warning flags with some privacy advocates.

Some 405 police agencies have been using Neighbors Portal, an extension of the company’s Neighbors app, Ring founder and CEO Jamie Siminoff said in a blog post.

They of course call it “Ring”, but it’s not — it’s Amazon.

What could possibly go wrong with such a plan?  Plenty.

First, who says how long Amazon keeps that footage around?  Forever must be your assumption.  Further, while you may have consented by putting that thing on your house did you really give informed consent?

And what about the people who live near you or happen to pass by?  They most-certainly did not consent.

“Every member of a community plays a vital role in making neighborhoods safer, and we’re proud that our users can decide how exactly they want to contribute to those conversations,” he said.

“We’ve also been thoughtful about designing how law enforcement engages with the Neighbors app to ensure users always stay in control of the information they share, and that their privacy is protected.”

Uh huh.

Every member of a community eh?  How do I, as a non-customer of this spying device, choose whether to consent?  IMHO “consent”, if I’m a non-customer, is likely best expressed via a load of buckshot right into the lens of that thing.

And by the way, it’s not just video — it also includes a microphone, so this is audio too, of anything that it can hear.

Police go through Ring when they make a request, and you can allegedly “decline.”

Sure you can.  And now you’ve marked yourself for harassment or worse.

Further, who says the company honors your privacy in the first place?  Streaming camera video is typically RTSP protocol and the payload is unencrypted.  Without some sort of secondary encryption (such as what HomeDaemon uses) so that said unencrypted data never passes beyond your home there is zero privacy in any video stream your cameras generate.  Ever.

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