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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 15 July 2022
Amazon handed Ring footage to police without user consent

By HALELUYA HADERO fice.
Amazon has provided "As my ongoing investiga-
Ring doorbell footage to tion into Amazon illustrates,
law enforcement 11 times it has become increasingly
this year without the user's difficult for the public to
permission, a revelation move, assemble, and con-
that's bound to raise more verse in public without be-
privacy and civil liberty ing tracked and recorded,"
concerns about its video- Markey said in a statement.
sharing agreements with Among other things, the
police departments across senator's statement also
the country. criticized the company for
The disclosure came in a let- not clarifying the distance
ter from the company that Ring products can cap-
was made public Wednes- ture audio recordings. The
day by U.S. Sen. Edward company had said in its
Markey, a Massachusetts response letter what Ring
Democrat who sent a sep- captures "depends on
arate letter to Amazon last many conditions, including
month questioning Ring's device placement and en-
surveillance practices and vironmental conditions."
engagement with law en- The Ring disclosure comes
forcement. A Ring doorbell camera is seen installed outside a home in Wolcott, Conn., on July 16, 2019. as Amazon is facing broad-
Ring has said before it will Associated Press er antitrust scrutiny in Con-
not share customer infor- gress about its ecommerce
mation with police without made a good-faith deter- provided to it in an emer- In a statement, Markey's of- business, and accusations
consent, a warrant or due mination that there was an gency request form and fice said the findings show a of undercutting merchants
to "an exigent or emergen- imminent danger of death circumstances described close relationship between that sell on its platform by
cy" circumstance. The 11 or serious physical injury to by law enforcement. Ring and law enforcement making "knock-offs," or
videos shared this year fell a person requiring disclo- Some prior requests from and a proliferation of po- very similar products, and
under the emergency pro- sure of information without law enforcement have lice using the platform. boosting their presence on
vision, Amazon's letter said, delay." raised concerns about how Amazon said in its letter its site. Markey and several
the first time the company In such cases, Huseman police might be attempting 2,161 law enforcement other Democratic lawmak-
publicly shared such infor- wrote Ring "reserves the to use Ring footage. Last agencies are enrolled in ers are also pushing for a
mation. The letter, dated right to respond immedi- year, the non-profit digi- Ring's Neighbors app, a fo- bill that prohibits the use of
July 1, did not say which ately to urgent law enforce- tal rights group Electronic rum for residents to share biometric technology by
videos were shared with ment requests for informa- Frontier Foundation report- suspicious videos captured federal agencies and tie
police. tion," adding the company ed the Los Angeles Police by their home security federal grant funding to
Brian Huseman, Amazon's makes a determination Department requested cameras. That number rep- states and localities on the
vice president for public as to when to share video Ring footage of Black Lives resents a five-fold increase condition they put a mora-
policy, wrote in the letter footage without user con- Matter protests from users in since November 2019, ac- torium on the use of such
that in each instance, "Ring sent based on information 2020. cording to the senator's of- technology.q

Ivana Trump, first wife of former president, dies at 73

New York City, her family force in business, a world- once a week.
announced Thursday. She class athlete, a radiant Ivana told the New York
was 73. beauty, and caring mother Post in 2016 that she was
"I am very saddened to in- and friend. Ivana Trump both a supporter and ad-
form all of those that loved was a survivor. viser to the former presi-
her, of which there are "She fled from communism dent.
many, that Ivana Trump has and embraced this coun- "I suggest a few things," she
passed away at her home try," the statement contin- told the paper. "We speak
in New York City," Trump ued. "She taught her chil- before and after the ap-
posted on Truth Social. "She dren about grit and tough- pearances and he asks
was a wonderful, beauti- ness, compassion and me what I thought." She
ful, and amazing woman, determination. She will be said she advised him to "be
who led a great and inspi- dearly missed by her moth- more calm."
rational life. Her pride and er, her three children and "But Donald cannot be
joy were her three children, ten grandchildren." calm," she added. "He's
Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. The Trumps were a power very outspoken. He just
She was so proud of them, couple in New York in the says it as it is." She was born
Ivana Trump announces the new "Italiano Diet" to stay healthy
and fight obesity at the Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel on June 13, as we were all so proud of 1980s before their equally Ivana Zelnickova in 1949 in
2018, in New York. her. Rest In Peace, Ivana!" public, and messy, divorce the Czechoslovak city of
Associated Press The Trump family also re- after Donald Trump met his Gottwaldov, the former city
leased a statement. "It is next wife, Marla Maples. of Zlin that just had been re-
By JILL COLVIN and JENNI- a publicity power couple with deep sadness that we But in recent years, Ivana named by the Communists,
FER PELTZ in the 1980s as the first wife announce the passing of Trump had been on good who took over the country
Associated Press of former President Donald our beloved mother, Iva- terms with her former hus- in 1948. She married Trump,
NEW YORK (AP) — Ivana Trump and mother of his na Trump. Our mother was band. She wrote in a 2017 her second husband, in
Trump, who formed half of oldest children, has died in an incredible woman — a book that they spoke about 1977.q