Newsletter Archives

• Crooks can take over your video doorbell by pushing a button

  Posted on May 27, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  High-tech doorbells with video cameras sound like a great way to monitor who’s currently on your front porch and who came by while you were away. But cheap models are ridiculously easy for common thieves to take over by merely holding down a button.

  No sophisticated electronic equipment is necessary to give a crook control over your video camera — and possibly your other computer equipment that’s using the same Wi-Fi network. All that’s required is a typical smartphone and an index finger to hold down the doorbell’s button for as little as eight seconds.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.22.0, 2024-05-27).

  Public Defender Amazon Ring, Doorbells, IoT, Newsletters, Ring, Security

• Amazon releases Ring videos without consent. Should you care?

  Posted on August 1, 2022 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Giant retailer Amazon.com, the parent company of Ring video and audio doorbells and other devices, admits in a letter to a United States senator that it sometimes releases recorded files to law-enforcement agencies without a court-ordered warrant or the consent of the recording’s owner.

  In response to a request for information from Sen. Edward Markey (Democrat of Massachusetts), Amazon vice president for public policy Brian Huseman revealed: “Ring has provided videos to law enforcement in response to an emergency request only 11 times” in the first half of 2022.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.31.0, 2022-08-01).

  Public Defender Amazon Ring, Newsletters, Privacy, Public Defender, Security, Surveillance