gshevlinApr 17, 2023
Kashmir Hill

Fascinating story: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/07/privacy-loophole-ring-doorbell-00084979

At first the police just wanted two hours of footage from this guy's doorbell Ring cam.

"It was just the beginning.

They asked for more footage, now from the entire day’s worth of records. And a week later, Larkin received a notice from Ring itself: The company had received a warrant, signed by a local judge. The notice informed him it was obligated to send footage from more than 20 cameras — whether or not Larkin was willing to share it himself."

The privacy loophole in your doorbell

Police were investigating his neighbor. A judge gave officers access to all his security-camera footage, including inside his home.

POLITICO
Mar 8, 2023 at 11:11pmWeb
Show threadSpicewallaMar 8, 2023

@kashhill

That piece doesn't come out and say it, but its hard not to come to the conclusion that the cops subpoenaed his indoor camera footage just to put him in his place.

That they would do that, and that their pet judge would sign-off on it, is nothing new. That Ring would choose the cops over their own paying customer and give it up without a fight is revealing though. Its another indictment of the techno-feudalism security model.

Show threadAlexey MerzMar 9, 2023

@Spicewalla @kashhill Welcome to the Internet of Shit.

I, for one, would not put an internet-enabled doorbell on my house. Can't imagine anything stupider.

Show threadLisPiMar 9, 2023

@Spicewalla @kashhill Holy shit, they've made indoor cameras and people fuckin trust them?

I could understand not grasping why WAN-networked cameras by third-parties are a stupid idea for outdoor cameras (not understanding leakage, not caring about others & not understanding how much your own movements tell), but for indoor cameras?

That's a whole other tier of ignoring glaring issues.

Even outside of cooperative corposcum, what if they get pwn'd & listed on Shodan?

Show threadBoredomFestivalMar 9, 2023
@Spicewalla @kashhill yet another reason I have sworn off installing mics/cameras that are plausibly under my own control.
Show threadKris SamselMar 9, 2023
@kashhill Corporations intruding on our 4th Amendment. Where’s the ACLU?
Show threadPamela Barroway – Biz EditorMar 9, 2023
@kashhill Friends think I’m super weird and somewhat paranoid for not getting Ring. I’ve sent this article to all of them, and am sticking with my decidedly non-tech door viewer, tyvm.
Show threadMason KortzMar 9, 2023
@kashhill The third party doctrine strikes again... I think it's time for courts to face the fact that the third party doctrine and the reasonable expectation of privacy test are completely contradictory in the modern age. The legal fiction that people are knowingly and voluntarily relinquishing control over private information has been stretched way too far.
Show threadMarcel-Jan KrijgsmanMar 9, 2023
@kashhill @IamDBA One Ring to rule them all?
Show threadEthan BlackMar 14, 2023
@kashhill This is what closed-source and the cloud can get you into. How much is your data really yours if it can be grabbed like this? #privacy