Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/10/31/ring-ring-petitionphone.html
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I don’t see the issue here.
The doorbells are looking into public space.
In public you have no expectation of privacy.
If it helps solve a crime in your neighborhood you should have no problem. Unless of course you are the one committing the crime.
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Your car is in “public space”. Would you be ok if your dash cam was secretly providing footage from your dash cam to police? 
(Amazon will “ask” you for Ring footage on behalf of the police, but because it is in the cloud, they already have it and will give it to the cops whether you want them to or not. Asking is just for the sake of appearance.)
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The ask here is an investigation, literally transparency from Amazon about their relationship with a government (i.e. public) institution. I think we know who, in this case, has “something to hide”…
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All devices/software that capture anything (video/audio/whatever) should have policies that are fully transparent. 
ethical disclosure.
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Want to get Bezo’s attention, hit him in the wallet, it’s his only weakness.
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Too large a cartoon to reproduce here, but absolutely worth clicking through, and right on topic here, trust me!
This cartoon is also on topic for the anti-gravity thread
In fact, while it’s on the clipboard I may go and post it there too. 
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Great. But what if something you do were to suddenly become a crime? It’d be awfully suspicious when everyone has a doorbell camera and you decide to tear yours out. Also, just because it’s not always pointing at you is no reason to think information about you can’t be derived. Cops want to search your pad but can’t be bothered to ask a judge? No problem, check the doorbell cam and see if you came through. If they don’t find anything, no harm, no foul. You’ll never even know they were there because people with doorbell cams need matching smart locks. If they do, I’m sure they had probable cause.
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Oh god, now you’ve reminded me of the terrible 90’s Channel 4 show Ring My Bell
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When I heard that song in a Walmart ad, I had to paraphrase Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride by saying, “You keep using that song, I do not think it means what you think it means.” 
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If you have one of these things, the police have co-opted you to perform warantless surveillance for them. Would you agree to stand on a street corner with your phone’s camera running every second automatically sending everything it sees to the nearest police station? That’s the same thing. I don’t know about you but I didn’t sign up to be an unpaid informant.
You like the idea of living in a place where people consider it their duty to keep an eye on their neighbors for the benefit of the police force? Move to China. You’ll fit right in.
Thank you for telling us your feelings, Gladys Kravitz.
Last time I looked, my porch and my front yard and my driveway were legally classed as private property.
The issue is, if you like the idea of you helping bring about the creation of a Stalinistic state where everyone spies on each other for the benefit of the security organs, you should move to China. You’ll fit right in.
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Welcome to boingboing! Nextdoor.com is thataway -->
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They are, however, visbile to the public and legally there is no expectation of privacy, though it’s complicated whether or not the government can point a spy camera at you or not regardless of your lack of legal expectation of privacy.
I’m wary of encroachment on our privacy, but I’m also wary of folks telling people to move out of the US because of a disagreement of opinion.
Eventually there will be a video componant and so why not sound recording, too? Ooops, turns out they can hear on both sides of the door.
Whyever would I want to broadcast all my (and my family’s) comings and goings as well as every other visitor?
It’s a missed opportunity for a Trojan Horse logo.
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The smarter the product, the stupider the purchaser.
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