Local law enforcement provides the public with cheap or free doorbell cameras and swings by for the footage whenever needed. Who isn't going to feel obligated to hand this over to the cops when they come asking?As the EFF's Dave Maass points out, if cops wanted to outfit a ton of homes with surveillance cameras they could access at any time, there would be some pushback. But frame it as a giveaway with an eye on home security, and people will gladly sign up to turn Everytown, USA into London. Both Amazon and law enforcement make it clear no one is obligated to turn their front doors into tools of the surveillance state. Amazon's end user agreement does not require users hand over footage to officers. But put a few officers on a customer's doorstep and the calculus of consent changes. How many Americans are going to choose their own doorstep to die on in a civil liberties battle with cops over footage of suspicious people/vehicles possibly collected by the private company's camera they have aimed at the street?Related Articles:Thursday, June 6, 2019 Ring and Law Enforcement Use Walk Lights And Flood Lights To Spread FearI thought that after writing two articles about the dangers of purchasing Ring doorbells, there could not possibly be anything else to warn people about, but boy was I mistaken. Big Brother has found a new way to spread fear and paranoia to neighborhoods. Besides using the obvious, like equipping homes with facial recognition doorbells and creating neighborhood watchlists, Ring is taking it up a notch. Friday, December 14, 2018 Amazon’s Disturbing Plan to Add Face Surveillance to Your Front DoorRecently, a patent application from Amazon became public that would pair face surveillance — like Rekognition, the product that the company is aggressively marketing to police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement — with Ring, a doorbell camera company that Amazon bought earlier this year. Tuesday, December 11, 2018 Police use facial recognition doorbells to create private watchlist networksEarlier this year, I reported that Amazon's spying Ring doorbells are being installed everywhere and how everyone's privacy is at stake.