from the watching-the-watchers-watch-the-watched dept.
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.)
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Friday January 10 2020, @04:30PM
We're not spying on you, it's off unless you turn it on.
I'm so glad this hypothetical situation could never actually happen.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DannyB on Friday January 10 2020, @04:53PM (4 children)
Were they fired for . . .
* Snooping ?
* Getting Caught at snooping ?
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by nitehawk214 on Friday January 10 2020, @05:17PM (1 child)
If only four employees got fired, then its for getting caught. I can garren-fucking-tea that more than 4 employees are snooping.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday January 11 2020, @02:46AM
What in the actual fuck could be in those Ring cameras that a trip to Liveleak couldn't do better? Is this NSA-style LOVEINT or something? Or was Liveleak blocked at work and all they could do was watch Ring videos all day?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 10 2020, @05:24PM (1 child)
Princess Jasmine: Are we in trouble ?
Aladdin: Only if we get caught.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday January 10 2020, @06:40PM
I would give you a funny mark, but I've recently become increasingly jaded with regards to Disney.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Lester on Friday January 10 2020, @05:10PM (6 children)
I don't like, but I'm not very concerned about a handful of nosy employees that watch personal videos. As I am not concerned about a bank employee watching my financial position just out of curiosity. Those cases are inevitable in large companies.
I'm concerned about employees paid by Amazon to design an algorithm for analyzing personal videos in order to improve my profile and share it. As I am concerned about a bank analyzing my account movements to create a profile and share it.
Those stupid employees have even helped improve Amazon's image "ohhh, they really take privacy seriously"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 10 2020, @06:28PM
Really good last point, I wouldn't be too surprised if the CEO requested a small number of essily fired people just for that reason alone!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Freeman on Friday January 10 2020, @06:48PM (2 children)
I think the entire Ring system is flawed. There should be a lot more personal privacy protections in place, so things like this can never happen.
I think their company motto / practice aligns a lot more with this quote from the lord of the rings than it does with consumer protection.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Ring [wikipedia.org]
Okay, so I couldn't help tweaking the saying, so sue me. Actually, please don't.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by krishnoid on Friday January 10 2020, @08:39PM (1 child)
+1 because Bezos, above all else, desires power.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday January 11 2020, @02:52AM
It's deep state shit. This isn't a problem of one man's ego, this is a problem of unelected bureaucrats implementing true Fascism -- the government takeover of industry -- except this time they're not going to tell you all about it. They'll simply point to somebody else like Alex Jones and tell you, "Look at that fascist! Punch Nazis! Deplatform fascist Nazis!"
The above is a classic Jewish trick -- accuse everybody else of what you're doing to them.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Friday January 10 2020, @08:29PM (1 child)
I frankly don't like either. Stay the fuck out of my home if you're a giant corporation.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Friday January 10 2020, @08:41PM
Nope, no giant corporation here, just an innocent door-to-door tentacle selling personal data and tentacookies for our cephalopod-scout troop.
(Score: 2) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Saturday January 11 2020, @07:51PM
slimy lateral power grab +1
We are going to have to learn there are just some things a centralized megacorp can never do properly.
Did everyone forget the windowless eastern european buildings where all of the alexa conversations are analyzed, to the extent you have anything worthwhile whatsoever that someone else might want?
People keep finding new ways to trade their fundamental rights away for negligible conveniences, I find it difficult to understand except that perhaps they are watching too much TV and not reading enough SN.
Hm tough to pick the right meme to drop here, it is like they all apply to this one,
https://archive.is/HTALt [archive.is]
And remember, this is the same company you trust to secure your aws deployments via a browser made by a google and wires that copy all traffic to israel.
https://archive.is/HTALt [archive.is]
https://archive.is/SiNIS [archive.is]