Cloud Video Surveillance

Amazon (Ring & Rekognition)

Amazon owns Ring, whose doorbell cameras and Neighbors app built partnerships with thousands of police departments to request footage. Separately, Amazon Rekognition offers cloud facial recognition that police piloted — and that the ACLU showed falsely matched 28 members of Congress to mugshots.

◍ Seattle, WashingtonEst. 1994NASDAQ: AMZN

Agencies & customers

Local LE

Products (2)

Ring & Neighbors→Amazon Rekognition→

Abuses & incidents

Lawsuit

FTC: Ring spied on customers

2023

The FTC found Ring let employees and contractors watch customers' private videos and failed to secure them, resulting in a $5.8M settlement.

↳FTC Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers, Failed to Stop Hackers Taking Control of Users' Cameras — Federal Trade Commission, 2023 ↗

Investigation

2,000+ police footage partnerships

2021

Ring built partnerships with thousands of police and fire agencies to request residents' doorbell footage, turning private homes into a distributed surveillance network.

↳Ring Announces It Will No Longer Facilitate Police Requests for Footage from Users — EFF, 2024 ↗

Investigation

Falsely matched 28 members of Congress

2018

The ACLU showed Amazon's Rekognition falsely matched 28 members of Congress to mugshots — disproportionately people of color — while Amazon marketed it to police.

↳Amazon's Face Recognition Falsely Matched 28 Members of Congress With Mugshots — ACLU, 2018 ↗

Ban / Halt

Police-use moratorium

2020

Amid bias findings and protests, Amazon paused police use of Rekognition — a moratorium it later extended indefinitely.

↳Amazon pauses police use of Rekognition — Reuters, 2020