SoylentNews

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/01/amazons-ring-fired-at-least-four-employees-for-snooping-on-user-videos/

Amazon's Ring line of consumer home surveillance products has drawn quite a bit of attention in recent weeks for how easily bad actors outside the company have been able to access users' accounts. But for Ring, as with many other firms, some of the greatest security risks may come from inside the company

In response to congressional questioning, Amazon this week admitted to four incidents in the past four years where employees accessed video data they were not supposed to.

[...]Ring fired all those employees following "swift action to investigate" and told Congress that following each incident, the company "has taken multiple actions to limit such data access to a smaller number of team members." Additionally, the company said, it "periodically reviews" employees' access to data "to verify they have a continuing need for access" in order to do their jobs.

[...]"publicly available" Ring video may include more information than the customers who generated it intend. Previous reports found footage online from tens of thousands of Ring cameras nationwide sharing extremely granular coordinates that allowed reporters and researchers to generate maps of their locations.

[...]Amazon was first called on to provide answers to Congress about Ring late last fall, following news that the company had developed close partnerships with more than 400 law enforcement agencies nationwide. (As of today, the list includes 770 agencies.)

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