Amazon Ring’s contracts with over 500 police departments are a backdoor deal that gives police unprecedented access to data recorded by its popular video doorbells, while platforms like its Nextdoor app stoke false hysteria over “rising crime,” effectively turning every door with a Ring device into a cop. Through it all, Black people pay the ultimate price. Ring’s partnership expands police surveillance capacity, and the company has even been caught coaching police departments in requesting data from Ring users without a warrant. This is not the first time that Amazon has been caught equipping state surveillance for profit, but this is one “deal” that we can bring to an end.
Alongside the Detroit Community Technology Project, Greenlight Black Futures Coalition, and No New Jails NYC, MediaJustice is building a movement to keep Black & brown communities safe from surveillance. The pressure on Amazon is growing by the day, and communities across the country are taking action against the intrusion of the surveillance state into our homes and lives.
Don’t let Amazon ship police surveillance to our doors. Tell Amazon that time’s up for profiting from the criminalization of our communities!
