Amazon admits handing over Ring doorbell user data to police

Towards a new scandal of misuse of personal data by a GAFA ? In a document addressed to the United States Congress, Amazon admitted to having delivered to the American authorities the user data of its doorbells Ring, and of course, without first obtaining the consent of said users. Worse still, the police would have obtained this data without issuing any warrant. These serious slippages have already occurred 11 times since the beginning of the current year.

Brian Huseman, Amazon’s VP of public policy, tried to justify himself by stating that these decisions fell within the framework of the “threshold of imminent danger”. But what is this threshold of imminent danger which does not correspond to anything legally established? Ring clarifies that it’s about power “respond immediately to urgent requests for information from law enforcement in cases involving imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to any person”.

Unsurprisingly, some lawmakers and representatives (mostly Democrats) are concerned about a practice that could be widely drifting.