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FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has charged home security camera company Ring with compromising the privacy of its customers by allowing employees to access consumers’ private videos.
('Oath of Fealty' by Pournelle and Niven)
California-based Ring LLC, which was purchased by Amazon in February 2018, sells internet-connected, video-enabled home security cameras, doorbells, and related accessories and services. The company has marketed its products as offering greater home security and providing its users with peace of mind. For example, in promoting its indoor security cameras, which can be placed in individual rooms, Ring touts the ability of purchasers to “See your home. Away from home” alongside a picture of a Ring camera monitoring a child’s bedroom.According to the complaint, these failures amounted to egregious violations of users’ privacy. For example, one employee over several months viewed thousands of video recordings belonging to female users of Ring cameras that surveilled intimate spaces in their homes such as their bathrooms or bedrooms.
(Via FTC.)
It's interesting to me that in Oath of Fealty, a 1981 novel by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven, the residents of the Todos Santos arcology have complete trust in the security people; they are expected to monitor the inside of apartments:
The TV screen flicked to show a kitchen. A small boy was pulling things out of cabinets, scattering flour on the floor... Blake reached forward to a button under the screen... "Ma'am, this is Central Security. Somebody pushed the panic button in the kitchen and I think you'd better have a look..."He waited. On the screen above, a woman... came into the kitchen, looked down in horror, and shouted "Peter!"
Then she looked up with a smile and moved closer to the camera. "Thank you, Officer," she said.
(Read more about the monitored in-home security cameras.)
I'm sure you're thinking of telescreens...
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 4/1/2026)
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'Then she looked up with a smile and moved closer to the camera.' - Pournelle and Niven, 1981.)
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