Tell Congress: Investigate Amazon’s surveillance dragnet
Congress
Amazon is aggressively expanding its for-profit surveillance empire.
In over 500 cities, Amazon provides law enforcement with an automated way to request and access user footage from tens of thousands of Ring surveillance doorbells, en masse without a warrant. In exchange, police departments are given scripted talking points to market Amazon products at city events, on social media and other government platforms.
Amazon uses these partnerships to drive up sales and profits of Ring products at the expense of our democracy. They pose a serious threat to:
Our Civil Liberties. Amazon renders the Fourth Amendment irrelevant by giving law enforcement backdoor, warrantless access to mass surveillance footage.
In the absence of clear civil liberties and rights-protective policies to govern the use of data, stored footage can be used by law enforcement to conduct facial recognition searches, target protesters exercising their First Amendment rights, or shared with other agencies like ICE.
Our Privacy. Amazon’s Ring doorbell cameras provide footage of millions of American families––from a baby in their crib to someone walking their dog to a neighbor playing with young children in their yard––and other bystanders that don’t know they are being filmed and haven’t given their consent.
Our Security. Ring cameras don’t use end to end encryption, and reports indicate that Amazon employees and contractors have direct access to some live feeds, raising significant national security concerns.
But Congress holds the power to establish oversight and investigate Amazon and these insidious partnerships.
Sign the petition to demand Congress: “Investigate Amazon’s surveillance empire. Call Amazon Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff before Congress and investigate Amazon’s business practices and the threats their partnerships pose to our security, privacy, and civil liberties.”
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To:
Congress
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[Your Name]
Investigate Amazon’s surveillance empire. Call Amazon Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff before Congress and investigate Amazon’s business practices and the threats their partnerships pose to our security, privacy, and civil liberties.