USA: Videos from Ring door cameras will soon end up with the police again
The Amazon subsidiary Ring has brought back company founder Jamie Siminoff. He is changing the direction of the company in the USA.
(Image: Ring)
Jamie Siminoff spent two years away from Ring, which made a name for itself with networked doorbells and cameras. The founder of the company, which was acquired by Amazon in 2018, has been back since April. According to US reports, he has since changed the direction of the company. This is clear from the company motto, which since 2024 has been "Keep people close to what's important".
However, an internal memo from April 2025 is said to state that the guiding principle is now "Make neighborhoods safer", as in Siminoff's first term of office. According to Business Insider, the memo is available. In it, Siminoff is said to call for the use of artificial intelligence techniques in every product and during development, among other things.
As The Verge claims to have learned, the "Request for assistance" program is also returning. This allowed law enforcement officers to access the recordings from the cameras directly. Amazon had initially put this on hold following protests and complaints from consumer advocates. However, Siminoff wants to revive the program. According to the internal memo, Ring wants to work together with the company Axon, which supplies numerous authorities in the USA with its "Taser" brand stun guns.
Live feed from the front door camera
Among other things, the cooperation will enable law enforcement officers to call up live feeds from Ring cameras directly. However, according to reports, users will have to agree to this. This would probably only make sense if they were to grant this permission across the board and not on a case-by-case basis – then time is usually of the essence. The impact of the strategic changes at Ring in Europe cannot yet be predicted.
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The success of Ring and the fact that entire areas can be monitored with the cameras at the front door are due to a widespread problem, particularly in the USA: Parcel theft at the front door. It has been common practice there for decades for logistics services to leave expensive deliveries outside the door when people are absent, even if the location can be seen from afar. This attracts thieves who, if not immediately deterred, can at least perhaps be identified by a Ring camera.
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