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Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) will no longer give first responders access to footage taken from the Ring home doorbell to address criticism that the practice violated privacy and civil liberty protections.
Because of exceptions to privacy policies in user agreements, law enforcement agencies are able to obtain data directly from tech companies with or without legal requests and without having to search the device directly. Oftentimes, these requests come with a gag order which prevents the company from notifying the user for up to 6 months that their data was obtained from law enforcement.
Once Amazon (AMZN) sunsets its Request for Assistance tool in its Neighbors app on the Ring doorbell, public safety agencies will need a warrant to obtain video recorded on the app, according to Bloomberg.
No reason was given for the decision, but company spokesperson Yassi Yarger told Bloomberg the company was going to pivot the focus of the Neighborhood app from crime and safety to more of a community hub with the launch of Ring Moments and Best of Ring.
The decision comes as tech companies push back on law enforcements’ use of information obtained from smart devices. Last month, Google (GOOG) said location data on Android devices will no longer by accessible by Google, thus, precluding the company from providing users’ location information to law enforcement.