Why This Matters
As it stands: The request was made in January 2020, and the data returned covered a period from September 28, 2019 through February 3, 2020. There were over 1,900 specific “camera events” in the document, including detected motions, doorbell “dings,” and any remote action by users to see the live video feed or talk to a visitor.
In addition, the latitude and longitude of each device, including the one running the Ring app, were recorded, down to 13 decimal places, which (in theory) could indicate where a device was to the nearest 0.00001mm, said the BBC.
Even anonymous data can have privacy implications.
What’s the problem: An independent privacy expert told the BBC that the data itself is only the beginning of the issue.
“Even anonymous data can have privacy implications, for instance about the collective privacy of, say, a housing block, a group of people, or a household unit,” she told the BBC.
Ultimately, we all bear a responsibility to demand transparency about data collection and use from our smart gadgets, and whether we let them into our home at all to begin with.
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