Ring: Difference between revisions

| Industry = Home security

| Official Website = https://ring.com/

}}

==Vulnerabilities==

In January 2019, it was uncovered that employees at Ring's two offices had access to the video recordings from all Ring devices.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Wiggers|first=Kyle|date=January 10, 2019|title=Ring employees reportedly had access to all live and recorded customer videos|work=VentureBeat|url=https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/10/ring-employees-reportedly-had-access-to-all-live-and-recorded-customer-videos/|access-date=January 12, 2019}}</ref> In addition, ''The Intercept'' reported that the video data was stored unencrypted.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Biddle|first=Sam|date=January 10, 2018|title=For Owners of Amazon's Ring Security Cameras, Strangers May Have Been Watching Too|work=The Intercept|url=https://theintercept.com/2019/01/10/amazon-ring-security-camera/|access-date=January 12, 2018}}</ref> In a December 2019 test, ''Motherboard'' found that Ring's software did not implement security features such as recognizing unknown IP addresses or providing a display of active login sessions, allowing the publication to access a Ring account from IP addresses based in multiple countries without warning the user.<ref>{{cite web|first1=Joseph|last1=Cox|access-date=February 20, 2020|title=We Tested Ring's Security. It's Awful|url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/epg4xm/amazon-ring-camera-security|date=December 17, 2019|website=Vice}}</ref>

===Police partnerships===

In June 2019, Ring faced criticism over a "Community Alert" program, under which the company has made geographically-targeted sponsored posts on social media services such as Facebook, asking readers to provide tips on suspects in verified cases, based on imagery posted on the Neighbors service by a Ring customer. Ring stated that it sought permission from the user before using their content in this manner. However, these discoveries did lead to concerns over the use of such footage in material deemed to effectively be advertising, as well as concerns over other possible uses of the footage (such as for training facial recognition) due to the wide copyright license that users must grant to in order to use Neighbors (an irrevocable, unlimited, and royalty-free license to use shared content "for any purpose and in any media formats in any media channels without compensation to you"), and Ring's partnerships with local law enforcement agencies.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Reichert|first=Corinne|title=Ring puts suspected thief in Facebook sponsored ads|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/ring-puts-suspected-thief-in-facebook-sponsored-ads/|access-date=June 18, 2019|website=CNET|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last1=Alba|first1=Davey|last2=Mac|first2=Ryan|date=June 7, 2019|title=Amazon's Doorbell Camera Company Is Using Security Video For Ads. That May Only Be The Beginning.|url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/daveyalba/amazon-ring-doorbell-company-using-security-footage-for-ads|access-date=June 12, 2019|website=BuzzFeed News|language=en}}</ref>

===Alleged use of facial recognition technology===

In February 2018, Business Insider reported references to use of facial recognition technology in Ring's privacy policy. The policy stated:<blockquote>Where permitted by applicable law, you may choose to use additional functionality in your Ring product that, through video data from your device, '''can recognize facial characteristics of familiar visitors'''. For example, you may want to receive different notifications from your Ring Doorbell depending on whether a visitor is a stranger or a member of your household. '''If you choose to activate this feature, we obtain certain facial feature information about the visitors you ask your Ring product to recognize'''. We require your explicit consent before you can take advantage of this feature.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ghosh|first=Shona|title=Amazon's newest acquisition, the doorbell startup Ring, made a smart move to fend off Google|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-smart-doorbell-ring-facial-recognition-2018-2|access-date=2023-07-20|website=Business Insider|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-07-25|title=Privacy {{!}} Ring|url=https://shop.ring.com/pages/privacy|access-date=2023-07-20|archive-date=July 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725110729/https://shop.ring.com/pages/privacy}}</ref></blockquote>In December 2018, patents filed by Ring surfaced to identify "suspicious" people and automatically alert police.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Amazon's Ring takes heat for considering facial recognition for its video doorbells|url=https://www.cnet.com/home/smart-home/amazons-ring-takes-heat-for-considering-facial-recognition-for-its-video-doorbells/|access-date=2023-07-20|website=CNET|language=en}}</ref>

===Alleged user tracking===

On January 27, 2020, the Electronic Frontier Foundation concluded that the Ring doorbell app for Android was sending identifiable personal information– including names, IP addresses, mobile network carriers, persistent IDs, and sensor data–to AppsFlyer, branch.io, Facebook, and Mixpanel.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/01/ring-doorbell-app-packed-third-party-trackers|title=Ring Doorbell App Packed with Third-Party Trackers|last=Budington|first=Bill|date=January 27, 2020|website=Electronic Frontier Foundation|language=en|access-date=January 27, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90464883/amazons-ring-will-let-users-opt-out-of-sharing-data-with-other-companies|title=Amazon's Ring will let users opt out of sharing data with other companies|last=Newman|first=Jared|date=February 14, 2020|website=Fast Company|access-date=March 23, 2020}}</ref>