Neighbors (app)

Neighbors by Ring, also known as simply Neighbors, is a hyperlocal social networking app owned by Ring LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc.

Neighbors
Developer(s)Ring LLC
Operating systemAndroid, iOS
LicenseFreeware

The app allows users to anonymously discuss crime and public safety issues within their local community. It integrates with Ring's smart doorbell and surveillance camera products, allowing users to share photos and video clips from the devices' cameras to accompany their posts. The app is also used as part of partnerships between Ring and local law enforcement agencies, who can make verified public service posts on the service, and use an online portal to collect footage posted on Neighbors to assist in investigations.

Usage

The app displays posts and notifications that fall within a five-mile (8 km) radius of the user's home address. Users can report on news and events within their neighborhood, as well as share photos and video. Users can comment on these reports in order to provide additional information.[1] Unlike competing services such as Nextdoor, the service focuses exclusively on public safety, and posts are moderated to remove off-topic content.[2]

Verified law enforcement agencies can post public bulletins on Neighbors to request assistance for investigations, such as locating a missing person or a suspect in a crime.[3] Members of police departments can request access to the "Neighbors Portal" to collect publicly-posted multimedia from Neighbors to assist in investigations: a case number is required, but no evidence is needed. Up to 12 hours of footage from within the past 45 days can be collected, within a maximum area of 0.5 square miles.[4][5] Users are automatically notified and asked for permission for footage to be released.[6]

Reception

Neighbors has received criticism over Ring's partnerships with law enforcement agencies.[7] The Electronic Frontier Foundation stated that apps such as Neighbors "facilitate reporting of so-called 'suspicious' behavior that really amounts to racial profiling."[8] Fight for the Future has considered Ring and Neighbors to be a private surveillance network, backed by partnerships with law enforcement that "undermine our democratic process and basic civil liberties".[9]

Further reading
  • Zhang, Min; Bandara, Arosha K.; Price, Blaine; Pike, Graham; Walkington, Zoe; Elphick, Camilla; Frumkin, Lara; Philpot, Richard; Levine, Mark; Stuart, Avelie; Nuseibeh, Bashar (2020-04-25). "Designing Technologies for Community Policing". Extended Abstracts of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Honolulu HI USA: ACM. pp. 1–9. doi:10.1145/3334480.3383021. ISBN 978-1-4503-6819-3.
  • West, Emily (2019-03-31). "Amazon: Surveillance as a Service". Surveillance & Society. 17 (1/2): 27–33. doi:10.24908/ss.v17i1/2.13008. ISSN 1477-7487.

See also

References
  1. "Ring Neighbors Is the Best and Worst Neighborhood Watch App". Wirecutter. The New York Times. 2020-02-14. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
  2. Rubin, Ben Fox. "How Ring's Neighbors app is making home security a social thing". CNET. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  3. Harwell, Drew (August 28, 2019). "Doorbell-camera firm Ring has partnered with 400 police forces, extending surveillance concerns". Washington Post.
  4. Lecher, Colin (November 19, 2019). "Amazon lets police ask for Ring videos that are more than a month old". The Verge. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  5. "Response Letter_Ring_Senator Markey January 11, 2019.pdf" (PDF). Ed Markey. United States Senate. November 1, 2019. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  6. Biddle, Sam (February 14, 2019). "Amazon's Home Surveillance Chief Declared War on "Dirtbag Criminals" as Company Got Closer to Police". The Intercept. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  7. Lecher, Colin (2019-11-19). "Amazon lets police ask for Ring videos that are more than a month old". The Verge. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  8. Guariglia, Matthew (August 8, 2019). "Amazon's Ring Is a Perfect Storm of Privacy Threats". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  9. "Amazon's Ring doorbell police tie-up criticised". BBC News. August 1, 2019. Retrieved August 3, 2019.

Official website

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