RING · HISTORICAL PRACTICE · EMERGENCY DISCLOSURE

Ring disclosed customer video to law enforcement without the device owner's consent in 11 emergency requests during the first half of 2022.

Private camera → vendor custody → emergency request → disclosure without owner consent

In a July 2022 response to Senator Edward Markey, Amazon said Ring had provided videos to law enforcement without the device owner's consent 11 times during that year. Ring said each disclosure followed a good-faith determination that there was an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury requiring disclosure without delay.

This is a historical policy/practice example. Ring's law-enforcement request mechanisms have changed since 2022, so this case should not be read as a description of every current police request or as evidence that every Ring camera automatically feeds police.

Why it matters: Purchasing and installing a camera does not necessarily mean the purchaser has exclusive control over every circumstance in which the vendor may disclose stored recordings.

Primary source: Amazon response to Sen. Markey, July 13, 2022

WHY THIS LIBRARY EXISTS

This page preserves the anecdote and its caveats separately from the shorter Why Privacy Matters explainer. The goal is to keep the argument readable without hiding the receipts.