Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
Ring will no longer let local police publicly ask people for doorbell footage through its Neighbors app. The Amazon-owned company announced it’s going to sunset its Request for Assistance tool this week, forcing police to obtain a warrant for most of its video requests.
This change might seem like a step in the right direction, but it may actually make the clip-requesting process less transparent, as police can still request clips from Ring during what they consider “emergencies.” In a statement to The Verge, Amazon spokesperson Yassi Yarger confirmed that on “rare occasions,” Ring will provide information to law enforcement “when there is an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury, such as a kidnapping or an attempted…