When it became clear that a Ring camera played a starring role in the ongoing divorce of Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner, it got us wondering—who's watching (or listening to) us gripe about our spouses as we say goodbye to our friends after a night out? Or arrive home a few hours after we expected? (In case you've been on a social media fast, rumor has it that Jonas heard Turner complaining about him via their doorbell cam.)
We live in an age of constant surveillance, while there's much good that comes from it, there's also some bad. Take home security cameras, for example. Being able to both see and talk to someone at your front door is certainly a security benefit, but have you ever considered who has access to any recordings from your device? What goes on at your front door might not be as private as you think. And the same goes for any space that has a camera—like that vacation rental you just booked, where the landlord could be spying on you. While cameras are meant to catch others committing crimes, they may also bring a whole new audience to any front-step indiscretions you're guilty of, even if it's just complaining about your mother in law when she's waiting for you inside the foyer.
Every home security camera company has different rules regarding privacy. But generally speaking, if your data is stored on a company's server (i.e., "the cloud"), there's a greater chance that a third party will be able to access it. In Ring's privacy notice, for instance, the Amazon-owned company states that it can obtain "[c]ontent (and related information) that is captured and recorded when using our products and services, such as video or audio recordings, live video or audio streams, images, comments, and data our products collect from their surrounding environment to perform their functions (such as motion, events, temperature and ambient light)."
In fact, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently penalized Ring for allowing employees and contractors to access customers' private videos—and failing to provide sufficient security measures to prevent hackers from accessing the same data. Which just goes to show that while, it's always a good idea to read a home security company's fine print to see what access it has to your recordings, that's never a guarantee for total privacy.
"Essentially, if the system is monitored, and the homeowner has given permission to the [security camera's] central station to make a judgment call based on an incident in the footage, it can be shared with other parties, such as law enforcement, for a response if necessary," says Kirk MacDowell, home security expert at Batten Safe.
Since most of us choose to have doorbell cameras for safety reasons, not to spy on our spouses, it stands to reason that law enforcement may need access to the footage. The creepy part is that they can get that access whether we give it to them or not. While law enforcement officers do not have automatic access to recordings, they can very easily obtain it. "The only time they could access it is if they have a warrant," says MacDowell. "Or many times, homeowners will share it themselves with law enforcement to assist with an investigation."
But even if you don't want to hand over your footage, there's a big loophole for law enforcement when you factor in cloud-based storage services. "When a company stores your footage for you, it also means that when police are curious about what your camera has seen, they can ask them or bring them a warrant rather than you, the camera's owner," says Dr. Matthew Guariglia, senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He also points out that Ring has been known to deliver private videos to law enforcement without a warrant. (And Google Nest has been criticized for the same actions.)
In fact, your security camera company could be sharing your footage with law enforcement without your knowledge, much less your permission. "It's also unclear whether security camera companies will inform their customers if police come to them with a warrant for their footage," says Guariglia. "Your footage could be used to enable police harassment or surveillance of neighbors, pedestrians, or your family without you even knowing."
If you want more control over your recordings, Guariglia suggests using a device that protects your videos with encryption or uses local storage rather than cloud-based storage. "The trick is to try to find a digital equivalent of a security camera that records to a VCR in your garage so that no one but you has access to it, and the only option for police that want the footage is to bring the warrant to you," he says.
Even if you don't own a home security camera, remember that you could be filmed in public areas—including sidewalks in front of a private home or hallways in an apartment building—so anything you say or do could be recorded and shared with anyone. Also keep in mind that cameras can pick up sound from a distance. "Your camera might be capturing every word coming through your neighbor's open window or people who work in the hallway outside your apartment door," says Guariglia. Which could, as we've seen, lead straight to divorce court.
