Video Doorbell Advice and Settings for Opting Out of the Surveillance State
There is also the risk that images will fall into the wrong hands and end up enabling politically motivated investigations, police harassment or stalking without you wanting or even knowing. Company employees or third-party contractors may have access to the videos, or your cameras may be hacked. Amazon settled a privacy lawsuit brought by the FTC a few years ago that mentioned both scenarios.
Most recently, ICE has operated Flock’s automatic license plate reader (LPR) cameras across the United States, according to 404 media outlets. What could he do with access to video doorbells?
Then there are doorbell owners. Camera footage is frequently shared online without the subject’s knowledge or permission. Users of neighborhood networking apps and social media groups post videos of allegedly suspicious characters. Unfortunately, these suspicions are often subject to bias, and racial profiling can be a real problem, as this research suggests. But, provided the images are captured in a public place, it is perfectly legal to share them.
“Recording into windows, fenced yards, or other private areas of your property may constitute an invasion of privacy,” Emile Ayoub, senior counsel for the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program, told WIRED. “But images that capture public-facing sidewalks or walkways likely won’t have the same protection.”
So, what are your rights?
The law is simple when it comes to the police.
“Unless they receive a formal request via a warrant or other court order, users are not required to share their images with law enforcement,” says Ayoub. “Some providers allow law enforcement to post wanted user images on community chat rooms. You can ignore or refuse these requests.”
If your video footage is stored in the cloud rather than on your device, law enforcement can force companies to turn it over, he explained. Typically, law enforcement must obtain a warrant or similar court order, depending on the type of information sought. However, there are exceptions to the warrant requirement in cases of emergency, such as imminent danger of death or serious injury.
Depending on their privacy policies, providers like Ring and Nest will notify users of data requests from law enforcement unless they are prohibited by law from doing so. Of course, no one reads the privacy policy before ringing the doorbell.
“This is one of the most frightening things about the rapid privatization of police surveillance,” says the EFF’s Dr. Guariglia. “As more and more evidence begins to develop in the form of corporate data, the public has less and less power to understand what happens to your information within the company, whether they need a warrant, what their relationship is with the police, and whether your data has been leaked. »
How to protect your video doorbell footage
A $10,000 bounty may await anyone who can hack Ring cameras to stop sharing data with Amazon, but there are easier and faster ways to protect your video doorbell footage. Getting rid of your doorbell completely is the easiest way to end privacy concerns, but if you find them useful, you can always just avoid cloud services.
“Own your data,” says Matt Sailor, founder of global digital surveillance manufacturer IC Realtime. “There is no need for other people to have access to your data.”
