Ring will no longer allow police to request doorbell camera footage from users

Our Take

Credit to WGN News for flagging this shift: Amazon's Ring will stop letting police departments send blanket requests for doorbell footage through its app. That tool, long criticized by privacy advocates, let cops mass-message whole neighborhoods asking homeowners to hand over video without a warrant. Killing it is a real, if overdue, concession.

But don't mistake this for a surveillance retreat. Ring footage still requires someone to say yes — a homeowner can refuse, ask questions, or ignore the request entirely. Flock Safety's ALPR cameras don't ask permission. They sit on public roads, photograph every plate that passes, and feed that data into a searchable, often shared, law-enforcement network with no consent step at all. One system is opt-in surveillance; the other is ambient tracking of everyone, guilty or not.

So while Ring backing off its request tool is worth noting, it doesn't touch the bigger problem: the quiet expansion of always-on plate readers across your town. Check our map to see what's already watching your street, and hit take action if you want to push back before it becomes permanent infrastructure.