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Re:Amazon's Ring Police Portal For Mass Surveillance by chaostheory on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @06:05PM (#18233709)
Were they forced to join? Was it compulsory? You do know even after you join, you choose what clips to share right?
Re:Amazon's Ring Police Portal For Mass Surveillance by reaperducer on Wednesday October 17, 2018 @12:31AM (#18236137)
All I know is that they were creeped out that the police asked them directly.

I didn't ask if they signed up or not. But the average person isn't some internet pretend lawyer, and will go along with anything someone with a badge says. Just the request is intimidation enough for most people.

even after you join, you choose what clips to share right?

You choose what you want to voluntarily share. But since the videos are on Ring's server, when the homeowner says "no," the courts say, "yes."

Re:Amazon's Ring Police Portal For Mass Surveillance by chaostheory on Wednesday October 17, 2018 @02:46AM (#18236712)
> You choose what you want to voluntarily share. But since the videos are on Ring's server, when the homeowner says "no," the courts say, "yes."

1. If this is true, then it applies to all data in the cloud, including stuff everyone already stores from their smartphone. Are you going to stop using your smart phone? Are you going to stop using Waze and online maps? Do you maintain your own personal email server? Do you use IM? Law enforcement would also have to make a formal request for the data. They don’t have instant access to it.

2. Again, this is completely opt-in and you can leave when you want.

3. To keep your video clips longer than a few hours, you need to pay for a Ring subscription. Again this is optional.

4. no one is forced to buy Ring devices

5. Mass surveillance has been here for years now. It doesn’t matter if you use Facebook or not. As long as your friends, family, and coworkers use it; they will have data on you. Is it possible to avoid? Of course but it would require such as drastic change in life that it would be impractical for most techies

Re:Amazon's Ring Police Portal For Mass Surveillance by ragequitta on Wednesday October 17, 2018 @12:51AM (#18236210)
If the courts are saying yes there has to be a justifiable reason. A crime has to have happened. It isn't the 'if you don't have anything to hide...' argument at that point, it's 'if you don't have a crime to hide'. That said I'm avoiding such technology as long as possible for other reasons.

I say as I type this on my phone with a camera and microphone pointed at me.