Door Bells and Funeral Bells
by Douglas Ankney
Ring is Amazon’s “smart” doorbell camera company that allows video cameras within users’ doorbells to surveil their porches, sidewalks, yards, and even the streets next to their homes. But Ring has also partnered with some law enforcement agencies, enabling police to directly email requests to Ring’s customers for video footage.
In the first quarter of 2020, police requested customers’ videos over 5,000 times, the Electronic Frontier Foundation reports. While it is not known how many of those requests were granted, it is known that as of June 22, 2020, Ring had partnerships with 1,403 law enforcement agencies (up from about 200 agencies in April 2019). Of those 1,403 agencies, 559 (40%) of them have been responsible for at least one death at the hands of police since 2015. And of the 6,084 reported deaths, agencies in partnerships with Ring accounted for 2,165 (35%) of those deaths.
Ring has turned many police forces into its sales force. Ring has drafted press statements and social media posts for police to promote Ring cameras and to terrify people into thinking their homes are in persistent danger. Yet there is no scientific data to show Ring prevents or reduces crime or makes neighborhoods safer.
Data do show, however, that users of Ring are more likely to report Black people on the community app “Neighbors” as being suspicious. This puts the person at risk of being harassed or even killed by police (one man was fatally shot by sheriff’s deputies the same night he was captured by Ring footage on a woman’s porch, which she then shared on the Neighbors app).
In this era where it’s proven that police engage in racial profiling and abuse of minorities, should Ring assist them with their surveillance that targets Blacks and other minority populations?
Source: eff.org
More from this issue:
- Police Unions: Obstacles to Criminal Justice Reform and Police Accountability, by Douglas Ankney
- Fourth Circuit Announces Discretionary Conditions of Supervision Must Be Orally Pronounced at Sentencing, by Anthony Accurso
- Deal Presented by Kentucky Prosecutor Evidence of Effort to Smear Breonna Taylor, by Casey Bastian
- Attacking the Guilty Plea: Waivers, Breaches, and Getting More Time After a Successful Challenge, by Dale Chappell
- Pennsylvania Supreme Court Announces Reckless Prosecutorial Misconduct Constitutes Overreaching Sufficient to Trigger Double Jeopardy Protections, by Douglas Ankney
- The 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment Showing Authoritarian Abuse Still Relevant Today, by Michael Fortino, Ph.D
- Powerful New Tool Reveals Federal Sentencing Problems, by Dale Chappell
- Campaign Zero Advocates for Police Accountability, by Jayson Hawkins
- Sixth Circuit Finds IAC for Failure to Raise ‘Clearly Foreshadowed’ Change in Law on Appeal, by Dale Chappell
- Ninth Circuit: Use of Unconvicted Conduct Too Dissimilar to Charged Offense Violates Due Process, by Dale Chappell
- Fifth Circuit Grants Habeas Relief Because Detective’s Testimony of Witness Identification of Defendant Violates Confrontation Clause, by Dale Chappell
- Indiana Supreme Court Announces New Analytical Framework for Review of Substantive Double Jeopardy, Overruling Richardson, by Douglas Ankney
- Idaho Supreme Court Announces False Rape Allegations May Be Admitted Regardless of When Made, by Anthony Accurso
- Federal Judge Criticizes Qualified Immunity and Challenges SCOTUS to Abolish It, by Anthony Accurso
- Fifth Circuit Reverses Conviction Based on Prejudicial Prosecutorial Misconduct, by Douglas Ankney
- Arizona Supreme Court Declares Gang-Association Statute Unconstitutional, by Dale Chappell
- Mississippi Supreme Court Vacates Capital Murder Conviction Obtained With Bite Mark Comparison Evidence, by Matthew Clarke
- Eighth Circuit: Counsel Ineffective for Not Recognizing § 851 Enhancement Should Not Have Applied, by Anthony Accurso
- First Circuit: Dangerousness of Machine Guns Not Justification for Above-Guidelines Sentence, by Dale Chappell
- Eleventh Circuit: Time Served Adjustment Is Mandatory Under Sentencing Guidelines Even After Booker, by Matthew Clarke
- Kansas Supreme Court Announces Residual Clause of Law Prohibiting Knife Possession by Felons Unconstitutionally Vague, by Anthony Accurso
- Maryland Court of Appeals: Odor of Marijuana Alone Doesn’t Provide Probable Cause to Arrest and Search Person, by Anthony Accurso
- Ninth Circuit: Mere Passage of Time Doesn’t Attenuate Evidence From Initial Constitutional Violation, by Douglas Ankney
- California Court of Appeal: ‘Violent Victim Rule’ Doesn’t Require Defendant to Have Had Knowledge of Victim’s Propensity for Violence, by Douglas Ankney
- N.J. Supreme Court Announces Defendant Has Right to Question Cooperating Witness About Plea Deal and Possible Sentence Exposure Even When Witness Faced Same Exposure as Defendant, by Douglas Ankney
- Missouri Supreme Court: Circuit Court Erred in Excluding Expert Witness Testimony Regarding Accuracy of Eyewitness Identification, by Douglas Ankney
- Seventh Circuit: Solo Masturbation Near Fully Clothed and Sleeping Child Does Not Constitute Production of Child Pornography, by Anthony Accurso
- California Supreme Court Reverses Murder Conviction and Death Sentence Because Police Failed To Honor Defendant’s Request for Counsel, by Douglas Ankney
- Fourth Circuit Expands First Step Act’s ‘Covered Offense’ to All of Section 841, by Dale Chappell
- Wisconsin Supreme Court: Officers Wrongly Inventoried Vehicle for Towing, Requiring Suppression of Evidence, by Anthony Accurso
- Sixth Circuit: Michigan Courts’ Procedure Allowing Appellate Counsel’s Withdrawal Unconstitutional, by David Reutter
- Sixth Circuit Clarifies ‘Different Location’ in Robbery Guidelines Enhancement Commentary Requires More Than Herding Victims To Different Room, by Anthony Accurso
- Fed Position on Pot Pushing Vets to Black Market, by Jayson Hawkins
- Minnesota Supreme Court: Coercion Statute Unconstitutionally Overbroad, by Anthony Accurso
- Less Lethal Munitions Still Deadly, by Edward Lyon
- Is the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Ready to Investigate Arbery Cover-Up?, by Jayson Hawkins
- Blue Lives Matter More: Georgia Introduces Hate Crime Bill Designed to Protect the Cops, by Michael Fortino, Ph.D
- Promises to Defund the Police Lead to Increase in Private Security Forces on City Streets, by Casey Bastian
- The Danger of Police Dishonesty, by Jayson Hawkins
- Interrogation Via Zoom: Policing in the Age of COVID, by Jayson Hawkins
- DOJ Report: Massachusetts Narcotics Bureau Relied on Excessive Use of Force, by Kevin Bliss
- Door Bells and Funeral Bells, by Douglas Ankney
- Did Two Judges Violate Ethics in Florida Voting Rights Restoration Case?, by Casey Bastian
- Kettles Are Used for Teas, Kettling is Used for People, by Edward Lyon
- Government Treats Protesting Cities as Enemies of the State, by Kevin Bliss
- News in Brief
More from Douglas Ankney:
- Vermont Supreme Court Affirms Dismissal of Habeas Petition from State Prisoner Given Run-Around by DOC, June 15, 2022
- Seventh Circuit: District Court’s Failure to Exercise Discretion After Erroneously Finding Defendant Ineligible for Relief Under First Step Act Was Abuse of Discretion, June 15, 2022
- Seventh Circuit Vacates Sentence Where District Court’s Rationale for Defendant’s Offense Level Unclear, June 15, 2022
- Connecticut Supreme Court Requires Special Credibility Instruction for Jailhouse Informant Even If Defendant Allegedly Confessed Elsewhere, June 15, 2022
- New York Court of Appeals: Frye Hearing Required to Determine Admissibility of DNA Evidence Generated by Proprietary Forensic Statistical Tool, May 15, 2022
- California Court of Appeal: Trial Court Must Receive Parole Agency’s Written Report Before Ruling on Parole Revocation Petition for Lifetime Parolee Despite Remand to Prison Being Mandatory, May 15, 2022
- West Virginia Supreme Court: Defendant Who Provided False Information to Detective Who Failed to Identify Himself as Police Officer Has No Duty to Cure False Statement Upon Learning Detective Is a Police Officer, May 15, 2022
- Maine Now Requires Criminal Conviction Before Property May Be Forfeited, May 15, 2022
- Tenth Circuit: Judgment of Conviction Becomes Final for § 2255 SOL Purposes Upon Conclusion of Direct Review of Deferred Restitution, May 15, 2022
- Maryland Court of Appeals Announces Accepting Empaneled Jury Doesn’t Waive Prior Objection to Trial Court’s Refusal to Propound a Voir Dire Question, May 1, 2022
More from these topics:
- Deputy U.S. Marshall Tracks Girlfriends With Sensitive Law Enforcement Tool, June 22, 2022. Police Misconduct, Police State-Surveillance, Cell-Phone Location/Tracking Data.
- New Jersey Supreme Court: Description of Race and Gender of Robbery Suspects, Without More, Doesn’t Constitute Reasonable Suspicion for Investigatory Traffic Stop of Black Motorists, June 15, 2022. Racial Discrimination, Traffic Stops.
- The Catalog of Carceral Surveillance: Mobile Correctional Facility Robots, June 1, 2022. Police State-Surveillance.
- Use of Controversial Phone-Cracking Tool Is Spreading Across Federal Government, May 15, 2022. Cell Phone Access, Police State-Surveillance, Searches - Cellphones/Computers/Internet.
- I, Robot, Am The LAW!, May 1, 2022. Police State-Surveillance, Electronic Surveillance.
- Government Drones Compromise National Security, yet the NYPD Uses Them, May 1, 2022. Police State-Surveillance, Recordings.
- Facbook Reminds Police, No Dummy Accounts for Surveillance, May 1, 2022. Internet, Police State-Surveillance, Searches - Cellphones/Computers/Internet.
- In a First of Its Kind Alert, Your Phone Became a Police Radio in Search for Subway Shooter, April 14, 2022. Police State-Surveillance, Electronic Surveillance, Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
- Postal Inspectors Have Been Illegally Spying on Americans, April 13, 2022. Mail, Police State-Surveillance, Warrantless Searches.
- L.A. Is Investigating 50-Year-Old Police Gangs, Finally, April 12, 2022. Police Misconduct, Racial Discrimination.
