Homeowners are more frequently adopting smart security systems, and within that market, Ring LLC is one of the most popular names in the game. Since its 2018 acquisition by Amazon.com Inc., the Hawthorne-based home security and video doorbell manufacturer has continued to grow its business and is beginning to transform its hyperlocal social networking application, Neighbors.
Amid continuing critiques of its partnerships with law enforcement agencies, Ring is now sunsetting a tool that allowed those agencies to request and receive users’ private footage within the Neighbors app. The company is also opening up the app – which had limited postings strictly to public safety issues – to general social media posting and sharing of personal footage for entertainment.
Ring was founded in 2013 and, since launching its flagship video doorbell, has branched into products such as alarm systems, indoor security cameras and dashboard cameras for vehicles. The company has continued to expand since its $839 million acquisition by Amazon, but its quick growth has been accompanied by consistent concerns from users, civil rights advocacy groups and the Federal Trade Commission over how Ring handles user data and footage, claims of “egregious” violations of user privacy and its partnerships with law enforcement. Ring founder Jamie Siminoff, who left the company last year, said in a 2019 blog post that more than 405 law enforcement agencies were partnering with Neighbors. According to map data provided by the company, Ring currently has active partnerships with about 2,680 law enforcement agencies nationwide, including more than 170 in California alone.
Changing policies
Previously, law enforcement agencies could post bulletins on Neighbors to users in a chosen geographic area under their own jurisdiction and request footage to aid investigations. Through a tool called Request for Assistance, or RFA, users could then respond to the posts by sending video footage through the application directly to the police. The RFA tool has now been removed from the platform.
Eric Kuhn, head of the Neighbors platform, said in a statement that, without the RFA program, public safety agencies such as fire and police departments can still post on Neighbors to share “safety tips, updates and community events” but will no longer be able to request and receive video within the app. Users can still share video content with police at their discretion, but can do so through email or another outside channel only. A source close to the company said that Ring wants to get away from “the business of evidence management” and refocus on the user experience of sharing content with their neighbors and community.
While users could optionally share their videos with law enforcement, Ring can also release footage without permission in “emergency situations” or under a court order. Ring said that such emergency requests are “rarely” granted and are dependent upon the presence of an immediate threat to life, property or health. Unlike a subpoena or search warrant, emergency requests are not legally binding, and Ring is not mandated to comply. In July 2022, Amazon stated in a letter to a Massachusetts senator that, since the start of that year, it had released footage under an emergency request only 11 times without user consent.
Matthew Guariglia, a senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital-rights nonprofit that promotes internet civil liberties, said he hopes Ring will now fully be out of the business of “platforming casual and warrantless police requests” and characterized the company’s relationships with police as “cozy.”
“We are also still deeply skeptical about law enforcement and Ring’s ability to determine what is or is not an emergency that requires the company to hand over footage without a warrant or user consent,” Guariglia said. “This announcement will not stop police from trying to get Ring footage directly from device owners without a warrant. Ring users should also know that when police knock on their door, they have the right to, and should, request that police get a warrant before handing over footage.”
Police can still request Ring users’ content through subpoenas or search warrants or could physically canvass a neighborhood by going door to door requesting information. Ring categorizes law enforcement information requests in several ways, including subpoenas, search warrants and preservation requests. The latter category describes times where law enforcement can request user data to be preserved for up to 180 days pending a legally binding order. From Jan. 1 to June 30 of last year, Ring reported 287 subpoena requests, 1,877 search warrants and 2,285 preservation requests. Search warrants were up about 56% from the same period in 2021, while preservation requests were up 72%.
In addition to its recent changes to Neighbors, Ring made news last year when Siminoff announced he was departing the company. Former chief operating officer Elizabeth Hamren took over and has served as chief executive since March. Siminoff then started a home services-management platform called Honest Day’s Work Inc. The Pacific Palisades-based startup was then later to Latch, a middleware operating platform that specializes in keyless smart lock systems for residential properties, for an undisclosed amount in May. As part of the transaction, Siminoff became chief executive of Latch.
Home security market grows
As homeowners have become more comfortable with smart security systems and the idea of installing their own devices rather than hiring a professional, the market has boomed. Brett White is a spokesperson for China-based Eufy, another smart home-security company that produces doorbells, smart locks and cameras. White said that the market has become much more competitive, particularly in the self-installation space.
“Video doorbells have a great deal of emerging competition,” White said. “Some of that likely stems from the fact that video doorbells have a fairly simple form factor that doesn’t lend to overwhelming hardware customization … we’ve found that consumers value the ability to control and monitor their indoor and outdoor property on different security devices on a single user interface.”
Unlike Ring, Eufy does not maintain any partnerships with law enforcement agencies. For users who opt for local storage, Eufy has no access to user’s video recordings. For those using its cloud storage option, video content is not shared without written consent unless legally ordered.
San Jose-based Arlo Technologies Inc. is another popular home security device company. Lily Knowles, Arlo’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, agreed that the home security market is getting more competitive. Similar to Eufy, Arlo does not have any partnerships with law enforcement agencies and doesn’t release customer data or videos without consent, or without either a legally enforceable search warrant or an equivalent court order.
“(The market) certainly has become crowded, and everyone in the space needs to recognize that we exist for the protection of our customers,” Knowles said. “That means not only protecting their home and family, but also their privacy and personal data. We encourage potential customers to do their research, review the privacy notice from each company, and only purchase products from brands who put customers and their privacy first.”
A Ring spokesperson did not give a reason for the timing of the RFA program’s end, but said that the company wants to expand the scope of options for users and prioritize making it easier for users to share content, rather than prioritizing evidence-gathering by police. Kuhn said in a statement that feedback from customers was a factor, adding that the changes to Neighbors are intended to help users interact with one another and discover new content.
“As we look to the future of the Neighbors app, we’re excited for what’s to come, and to see all the ways customers will continue to connect and share with each other and their communities,” Kuhn said.
