Ring Coyness About Adding Facial Recognition Tech To Its Cameras Doesn't Extend To Its Marketing Materials

from the unreasonable-suspicion dept

Ring may say it's not getting into the facial recognition business, but its internal documents say otherwise. The company has a head of facial recognition tech in its Ukraine office. And its answers to Senator Edward Markey's questions make it clear Ring hasn't ruled out adding this tech to its doorbell cameras. Specifically, the company said it had no plans at the present but was always looking to "innovate" to meet "customer demand."

Documents obtained by The Intercept show Ring is still "innovating," even if there's no apparent customer demand for facial recognition tech. Sam Biddle has the details:

Ring, Amazon's crimefighting surveillance camera division, has crafted plans to use facial recognition software and its ever-expanding network of home security cameras to create AI-enabled neighborhood “watch lists,” according to internal documents reviewed by The Intercept. The planning materials envision a seamless system whereby a Ring owner would be automatically alerted when an individual deemed “suspicious” was captured in their camera’s frame, something described as a “suspicious activity prompt.” In the mockup seen by The Intercept, "suspicious" apparently translates to "shabbily dressed man." This person is shown walking past a garage-mounted camera (which the company says users shouldn't point at public areas like streets and sidewalks) with the alert "This person appears to be acting suspicious."

Dress better, citizens. Otherwise, your image might be uploaded to Ring's snitch app, Neighbors, where local randos can collectively gin up fear and sic the cops on you. Nowhere in the document does Ring define what triggers its "suspicion" sensors.

Here's where the facial recognition tech is pitched but never named specifically:

A third potentially invasive feature referenced in the Ring documents is the addition of a “proactive suspect matching” feature, described in a manner that strongly suggests the ability to automatically identify people suspected of criminal behavior — again, whether by police, Ring customers, or both is unclear — based on algorithmically monitored home surveillance footage. Ring is already very much in the business of providing — with a degree of customer consent — valuable, extrajudicial information to police through its police portal. A “proactive” approach to information sharing could mean flagging someone who happens to cross into a Ring video camera’s frame based on some cross-referenced list of “suspects,”

Ring may not have facial recognition tech built in (yet), but plenty of police departments utilize or have access to this software. Any images or footage shared with law enforcement agencies -- either voluntarily by Ring owners or acquired with a subpoena from the company -- can be subjected to facial recognition tech and placed on a Ring-enabled "watchlist."

Ring remains mostly a dump pipe in this scenario, but its aggressive marketing to law enforcement suggests it wants its 600+ government partners to take advantage of the tools they have on hand to make the most of footage cops are invited to download and hold onto indefinitely. Ring can then remain in a state of plausible deniability when being questioned by critics and/or Congress while still giving hundreds of law enforcement agencies all the reason they need to act as Ring brand ambassadors.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community. Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis. While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: doorbells, facial recognition, ring, ring doorbells

Companies: amazon, ring