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The privacy loophole in your doorbell
Politico ^ | 03/07/2023 | Alfred Ng

Posted on 03/12/2023 6:16:24 AM PDT by fluorescence

The week of last Thanksgiving, Michael Larkin, a business owner in Hamilton, Ohio, picked up his phone and answered a call. It was the local police, and they wanted footage from Larkin’s front door camera.

Larkin had a Ring video doorbell, one of the more than 10 million Americans with the Amazon-owned product installed at their front doors. His doorbell was among 21 Ring cameras in and around his home and business, picking up footage of Larkin, neighbors, customers and anyone else near his house.

The police said they were conducting a drug-related investigation on a neighbor, and they wanted videos of “suspicious activity” between 5 and 7 p.m. one night in October. Larkin cooperated, and sent clips of a car that drove by his Ring camera more than 12 times in that time frame.

He thought that was all the police would need. Instead, it was just the beginning.

They asked for more footage, now from the entire day’s worth of records. And a week later, Larkin received a notice from Ring itself: The company had received a warrant, signed by a local judge. The notice informed him it was obligated to send footage from more than 20 cameras — whether or not Larkin was willing to share it himself.

[snip]

This time, Larkin wasn’t able to choose which cameras he could send videos from. The warrant included all five of his outdoor cameras, and also added a sixth camera that was inside his house, as well as any videos from cameras associated with his account, which would include the cameras in his store. It would include footage recorded from cameras he had in his living room and bedroom, as well as the 13 cameras he had installed at his store associated with his account.

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: amazon; business; camera; electronics; police; prepper; preppers; residential; ring; spy; surveillance
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To: fluorescence
They asked for more footage, now from the entire day’s worth of records. And a week later, Larkin received a notice from Ring itself: The company had received a warrant, signed by a local judge. The notice informed him it was obligated to send footage from more than 20 cameras — whether or not Larkin was willing to share it himself.

At that point you have to wonder what it is that the police and the judge are trying to cover up?

21 posted on 03/12/2023 7:24:34 AM PDT by Sirius Lee (They intend to murder us. Prep if you want to live and live like you are prepping for eternal life)
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To: Ikeon
simple. delete your old videos at least weekly. its 2 clicks

Videos from Ring cameras are stored on Ring's servers unless you download them to your local computer.

Another option is to simply set the video storage time in the Ring dashboard to 14 days and Ring will delete them automatically.

22 posted on 03/12/2023 7:25:27 AM PDT by Ol' Dan Tucker (For 'tis the sport to have the engineer hoist with his own petard., -- Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4)
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To: GingisK

“I don’t have one of those elite “doorbells”. I have a real door bell.”

Old school, excellent. On the other hand, might be good to get some warning if any of Obama’s sons come looking for reparations and forget to use the doorbell.


23 posted on 03/12/2023 7:26:19 AM PDT by Roadrunner383
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To: Roadrunner383

Keep the weapons close at hand, be sure they can get inside. ;-D


24 posted on 03/12/2023 7:34:24 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: muir_redwoods

It uploads to the cloud. There ain’t no “deleting it”.


25 posted on 03/12/2023 7:35:47 AM PDT by VTenigma (Conspiracy theory is the new "spoiler alert")
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To: bert

>I don’t see a problem.

Give the cops the videos they need to convict a drug dealing neighbor.<

Then I’m guessing you don’t have a problem with the likes of Peter Strzok seeing everything that happens between you and your wife in the bedroom.

I see no conceivable reason to have to cede footage from the interior of a building -livingroom and bedroom- when the suspect is a neighbor.

EC


26 posted on 03/12/2023 7:36:02 AM PDT by Ex-Con777
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To: fluorescence
And a week later, Larkin received a notice from Ring itself: The company had received a warrant, signed by a local judge. The notice informed him it was obligated to send footage from more than 20 cameras — whether or not Larkin was willing to share it himself.

The only way this would work is if Larkin was subscribed to Ring Alarm Pro and had an SD card installed in his Ring Base station.

Otherwise all video is stored on Ring's own servers unless they're manually downloaded to his local computer.

Also, you can set the Video Storage Time for each camera in the Ring dashboard. Any videos older than this is automatically deleted.

27 posted on 03/12/2023 7:38:27 AM PDT by Ol' Dan Tucker (For 'tis the sport to have the engineer hoist with his own petard., -- Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4)
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To: fluorescence

The privacy loophole in your doorbell

Your papers please


28 posted on 03/12/2023 7:58:12 AM PDT by Vaduz (LAWYERS )
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To: bert

The problem is the overreach on the warrant asking for inside his house and store.


29 posted on 03/12/2023 7:59:57 AM PDT by pas
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To: fluorescence

A lot to unpack there and lucky I don’t have the time to do it.
What was the point of having a camera in the bedroom in the first place?
When you get all these cameras (I have plenty myself), you can’t help knowing how they work. They upload. Out of your hands. To other eyes. What they record becomes accessible to you-know-not-whom.
Don’t yelp about it when the authorities want to see it for their authority reasons. You knew what you were giving up (privacy) when you bought the gadgets.
Seriously, if you don’t know beans about electronic privacy, don’t do electronics, or don’t do privacy.


30 posted on 03/12/2023 8:12:30 AM PDT by Buttons12 ( Do you not think an Angel rides in the Whirlwind and directs this Storm?)
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To: fluorescence

Only an idiot trusts other people with their private data.


31 posted on 03/12/2023 8:18:25 AM PDT by MeganC (There is nothing feminine about feminism. )
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To: fluorescence

Sorry officer, I USED TO have Ring cameras, but I took them with me fishing and now they are at the bottom of a lake.


32 posted on 03/12/2023 8:19:36 AM PDT by faucetman (Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts )
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To: bert
"I don’t see a problem. Give the cops the videos they need to convict a drug dealing neighbor."

The cops have a warrant for ALL of the videos including bedroom ones.

33 posted on 03/12/2023 8:41:56 AM PDT by BipolarBob (The rumor has not been confirmed until the FBI officially denies it.)
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To: bert
I don’t see a problem.

Give the cops the videos they need to convict a drug dealing neighbor.

The problem as I see it is that, after initial cooperation, he gets a court order for all his cameras. I understand cameras which may have a view of the areas related to the neighbor's house (target of investigation) but they also wanted data from cameras inside his own house and at his place of business which was nowhere near the neighbor's house and would have no value to the purported investigation.

You can cooperate all you want. But when the government starts demanding access to your private life for no legitimate reason, it's time to raise the red flag.

34 posted on 03/12/2023 8:48:22 AM PDT by Hatteras
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To: fluorescence

Enjoy the world you have wrought, Pollutico.


35 posted on 03/12/2023 9:03:37 AM PDT by sauropod (“If they don’t believe our lies, well, that’s just conspiracy theorist stuff, there.”)
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To: Gideon300

I hate my phone although it makes a good Walkman.


36 posted on 03/12/2023 9:23:55 AM PDT by Irenic
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To: fluorescence
Larkin said it was fortunate his indoor camera listed in the request was unplugged for the timeframe the warrant specified, while his living room and bedroom cameras are only activated when his home alarm system is active.
This is a little weird. If I had an alarm system and apparently needed cameras everywhere it would normally be on so it'll catch you out of the shower, dressing and undressing, saying "hello" to the little lady, cussing out our current pResident watching the news, etc.

Over 26 years we've had a blue merle Cattle Dog and a blue merle Aussie for watch dogs with doggie door access off the porch to the whole property. Great alarm systems in our wooded area.

Even if they were subpoenaed they wouldn't tell the cops where I keep my guns or anything for that matter. ;-)

Looking for another dog now. Stated rule is we each have an absolute veto on a pup.

She's looking at "BernieDoodles"? - only $2500+. Sigh. Less dog hair around I guess. I'm leaning to another cattle dog. Short hair for easy burr removal, can handle the Florida heat, very alert and a convincing bark backed with muscle.

37 posted on 03/12/2023 9:55:31 AM PDT by Tunehead54 (Nothing funny here ;-)
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To: Ol' Dan Tucker

We have a Ring camera doorbell and also the wife has one in the living room on the mantle.
I’m sure the Ring people enjoy seeing me walk through in my boxers and sometimes naked.
I wouldn’t have any of these if it weren’t for the wife… also with me having to travel for work, it gives her peace of mind along with her pistol.


38 posted on 03/12/2023 10:32:44 AM PDT by Married with Children
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To: fluorescence

If you are stupid enough to link anything to any “cloud” service you have given up any right to any level of privacy. It is like putting stuff on Facebook/Instagram/TTok/etc. They own your data.

Locally share it. Only local. If that means you cannot peek at it from your asinine phone while at work, tough. If worried about what is going on at your house go talk to a neighbor and set up a deal with them.


39 posted on 03/12/2023 10:53:52 AM PDT by bobbo666 (Baizuo)
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To: fluorescence

My “doorbell” is the old farm bell mounted by the front door. A visitor pulls the rope that rings the bell and it clangs loudly. My door “peep hole” is the window near the door. Both have served me well for over 35 years and neither have ever spied on me.


40 posted on 03/12/2023 11:00:47 AM PDT by CFW (old and retired)
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