Ring Ends Police Access to User Camera Footage, Addressing Privacy Concerns
The short version: Ring's exit from its police footage-request program is a small privacy win, but it doesn't touch the bigger threat: Flock's ALPR dragnet quietly expanding nationwide.
Our Take
Credit to The Straight Dope Show for flagging this one. Ring shutting down its "Request for Assistance" tool — the feature that let police ping doorbell-camera owners directly through the Neighbors app — is a genuine, if overdue, concession to years of pressure from privacy advocates who warned it was building an informal, opt-in surveillance network out of people's front porches.
But let's not get it twisted: ending one request pipeline doesn't mean police lose access to footage. Warrants, subpoenas, and old-fashioned door-knocking still work, and Amazon has plenty of other law-enforcement relationships in its portfolio. More importantly, doorbell cameras were never the biggest fish in this pond. While Ring backpedals on one feature, networks of automated license plate readers — many run by Flock Safety — are multiplying across neighborhoods with far less public debate, logging every car that passes regardless of consent, warrant, or wrongdoing.
That's the real fight. A single company adjusting its policy is nice, but it's not a substitute for knowing what's actually watching you on your own street. Check our camera map to see what's been spotted near you, and if you find an unreported reader, head to take action to help document it.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of The Straight Dope Show, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.