Ring has given 400+ police departments access to doorbell cameras

So the police requests access to the footage for a specific time, the homeowner has to agree to it, and then Amazon/Ring hands it over? If the homeowner declines, then the neighbor agrees, the police can still (most likely) see what they were trying to see. This has got some creepy implications that basically means the more of these Ring cameras are out there, the more power the police has in terms of surveillance. The homeowner's permission is completely useless since there are likely other homeowners in the area that will agree.

This is the problem with this new wave of devices that only work when connected to the manufacturer's cloud service. There needs to be more focus on devices and software that allow you to run completely independently of the manufacturer's servers. The Home Assistant project has been a blessing in this area, but many devices either lack support or must have custom firmware to work in an "offline" mode.

I see nothing wrong with this.

People have no right to get mad that a law enforcement agency wants the video that may have captured a crime, of a product that is marketed to help the consumer catch people in the act of a crime that records everyone that passes in front of it without their permission. It's not like you go to your neighbors and say "please sign this release so I can record you if you cross in front of my camera".

Like a lot of these IOT things, this is "not your doorbell", it's just a doorbell you get the privilege of using.

I'd be curious as to whether it loses ring some sales.