Amazon-owned MGM makes a viral video show with surveillance footage from Amazon-owned Ring – TechCrunch
MGM (owned by Amazon) is running a viral video program based on footage from Ring (also owned by Amazon) security cameras. The syndicated TV show, “Ring Nation,” is poised to become a modern-day surveillance show on “America’s Funniest Home Videos” with Wanda Sykes as host.
According to a report in Limit line, the show will feature Ring about “neighbors saving neighbors, proposing marriages, reuniting in the army, and silly animals.” Ring is also known for activities like accidentally leaked everyone’s home address and handing over footage to the government without the user’s permission.
Between January and July of this year, Amazon shared footage of the doorbell ringing with US authorities 11 times without the device owner’s consent. Ring has been criticized for its performance unusually tight with at least 2,200 police departments across the United States, allowing police to request doorbell camera video from homeowners through the Ring’s Neighbors app. Like Citizen and Nextdoor, the Neighbors app tracks local crime and allows users to comment anonymously – plus, Ring’s police partner video footage can be made public on the app.
An Amazon-owned police surveillance network is bad enough, but Neighbors users have also faced multiple times safety and Guard problem.
An executive at MGM, Barry Poznick, praised the new show: “From the incredible moments, to the hilarious and uplifting must-sees across the country every day, Ring Nation offers one. something for everyone to watch at home.”
But perhaps what viewers at home really want is data privacy.
Ring only began disclosing its connections to law enforcement after verification requirements for transparency from the US government. In a letter in 2019Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) said that the company’s relationship with the police force raises concerns about civil liberties.
“Integrating Ring’s camera network with law enforcement offices can easily create a surveillance network that places a dangerous burden on people of color and raises racial anxiety in local communities. ,” Senator Markey Written. “Given evidence that current facial recognition technology disproportionately identifies African Americans and Latinos, a product like this has the potential to catalyze racism and harm people of color.”
Amazon acquired the smart doorbell company in 2018 for 1 million dollarafterward bought MGM for $8.5 billion earlier this year. Now, these two investments – seemingly unrelated – are combining to create a beautiful feat of late capitalism that we could not have imagined in a bad nightmare. his best. Amazon also just spent $1.7 billion on iRobotmaker of the Roomba vacuum cleaner, but we wouldn’t dare imagine that acquisition one day could inspire a horrifying TV show.
