Huseman said the shipping giant would not permanently agree to “never accept financial contributions from policing agencies; never allow immigration enforcement agencies to request Ring recordings, and never participate in police sting operations.” Ring has previously stated that it does not share customers’ camera recordings with law enforcement agencies without consent, a warrant, or due to “an exigent or emergency” circumstance. However, it said that Ring can hand over footage in ’emergencies’ without the owner’s consent. Huseman stated in the letter dated July 1 that Ring provided 11 videos to law enforcement in response to an emergency request after making a “good-faith determination” about risk. However, the letter does not disclose which videos were shared with the police. “In each instance, Ring made a good-faith determination that there was an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to a person, requiring disclosure of information without delay,” he said. Huseman noted that Ring “reserves the right to respond immediately to urgent law enforcement requests for information,” adding the company decides when it is appropriate to share video footage without user consent based on the information described by law enforcement and information given in an emergency request form. This is the first time the company has confirmed actually handing over the camera footage to law enforcement agencies because of that condition. According to Markey, the number of agencies using the app has increased five times since November 2019. He claimed that the use of surveillance without the owner’s consent raises privacy concerns. “I will continue to exercise oversight of these harmful corporate practices. In the meantime, Congress must pass the Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act to stop law enforcement from accessing sensitive information about our faces, voices, and bodies.” Markey went on to encourage Congress to pass the Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act to prohibit police from retrieving sensitive information of the customer. A Ring spokesperson contacted Techworm with a statement on the whole issue. “It’s simply untrue that Ring gives anyone unfettered access to customer data or video, as we have repeatedly made clear to our customers and others,” the spokesperson said. “The law authorizes companies like Ring to provide information to government entities if the company believes that an emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury to any person, such as a kidnapping or an attempted murder, requires disclosure without delay. Ring faithfully applies that legal standard.”
