Ring thinks about integrating facial recognition in doorbell

Ring, the Amazon subsidiary that makes smart doorbells, says it may offer facial recognition as a feature. Currently, the Ring doorbell does not yet have facial recognition. Ring often works with police services to request images.

Ring says that, if users want it, doorbells will get the facial recognition feature. The company has already made preparations to build it in, according to answers to questions from a US senator. It is not yet clear when and whether facial recognition will be in Ring doorbells. Many competitors already have such a function.

The US senator has questioned Ring about his collaboration with hundreds of police forces. They can ask nearby Ring users to share images from their security camera via an Amazon app. In the US, those corps are allowed to keep the images forever and share them indefinitely. In Europe, privacy laws are stricter, which presumably prohibits the perpetual storage and unrestricted sharing of images.

The Amazon subsidiary has been receiving critical questions about cooperation with police forces for some time. It earns money from this through cooperation agreements, in which police forces provide doorbells to local residents at a discount or free of charge. Users can choose at a time whether to share images and the police would not be able to see if they refuse.