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COVID-19 Vaccination in the United States of America (to June 2021)

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Ring

Ring LLC is a home security and smart home company owned by Amazon. Ring manufactures home security products that incorporate outdoor motion-detecting cameras, including Ring Video Doorbell. It hosts an app, Neighbors, for online social sharing of captured footage among users. Ring also provides video footage from its cameras and data from its Neighbors app to law enforcement agencies on request. Its police partnerships have been criticized by civil rights advocacy groups as building an invasive private surveillance network.

Subsidiary of Amazon (2018–present)

In February 2018, Ring was acquired by Amazon for an estimated value of between $1.2 billion and $1.8 billion.

In January 2019, it was uncovered that employees at Ring’s two offices had had access to the video recordings from all Ring devices. In addition, The Intercept reported that the video data was stored unencrypted.

In June 2019, Ring faced criticism over a “Community Alert” program, under which the company has made geographically-targeted sponsored posts on social media services such as Facebook, asking readers to provide tips on suspects in verified cases, based on imagery posted on the Neighbors service by a Ring customer. Ring states that it seeks permission from the user before using their content in this manner. However, these discoveries did lead to concerns over the use of such footage in material deemed to effectively be advertising, as well as concerns over other possible uses of the footage (such as for training facial recognition) due to the wide copyright license that users must grant to in order to use Neighbors (an irrevocable, unlimited, and royalty-free license to use shared content “for any purpose and in any media formats in any media channels without compensation to you”), and Ring’s partnerships with local law enforcement agencies.

In July 2019, Vice publication Motherboard obtained records revealing the extent of Ring’s partnership with the Lakeland (Florida) Police Department (LPD). The department was granted access to a “Law Enforcement Neighborhood Portal” for making posts on Neighbors and the ability to “request videos directly from Ring users,” and received a donation of 15 Ring cameras. However, the memorandum of understanding stated that the LPD would be required to participate in “outreach efforts on the platform to encourage adoption of the platform/app” (receiving $10 credits for Ring camera purchases for each new user). Ring also recommended that the LPD establish specific new positions for the partnership, including a “social media coordinator”. Later in the month, Motherboard obtained public records containing an officer’s notes from an April 2019 training webinar, which stated that Ring had partnered with at least 200 law enforcement partners. In early-August 2019, Motherboard also reported that Ring would match payments by cities to cover the subsidized purchase of Ring cameras, so that they can be resold to residents at a discount.

Cybersecurity firm Bitdefender identified a vulnerability in the Ring Video Doorbell Pro product in July 2019, which was patched before being publicly disclosed in November 2019. Security hackers accessed a number of Ring cameras in December 2019 and used the device speakers to broadcast racial slurs, threats, and other inflammatory language to multiple households across the United States. A Motherboard investigation discovered crime forums that distributed software exploits of Ring devices that were used in the cyberattacks. NulledCast, a podcast on Discord, livestreamed some of the incidents.Ring responded to the incidents by advising its users to have strong passwords, enable two-factor authentication, and adopt other security measures. Ring mandated two-factor authentication for all users on February 18, 2020.

The United States House Committee on Oversight and Reform launched an investigation into Ring’s data-sharing partnerships with local governments and police departments on February 19, 2020.

In November 2020, Amazon announced the recall of 350,000 Ring doorbells in the United States and 8,700 in Canada due to a potential fire risk.

Ring Video Doorbell

The Ring Video Doorbell is the company’s flagship product; it is a smart doorbell that contains a high-definition camera, a motion sensor, and a microphone and speaker for two-way audio communication. It integrates with an associated mobile app, Neighbors, which allows users to view real-time video from the camera, receive notifications when the doorbell is rung, and communicate with visitors at the door via the integrated speaker and microphone. It is also capable of operating as a surveillance camera, and can automatically trigger recordings when rung, or when its motion sensors are activated. A second-generation model, Ring Doorbell 2, was released in 2017, with updated hardware and a 1080p camera with improved low-light performance, that does not rely solely on Wi-Fi, unlike the original model. The Ring Doorbell Pro interoperates with Amazon Alexa to play prerecorded greetings to visitors and allow visitors to leave a message.

The “Ring Chime” accessory is a unit plugged into a power outlet to play the doorbell’s chime. The “Chime Pro” is an extended version that also doubles as a wireless repeater for Wi-Fi networks.

Source: Wikipedia