Surveillance: Amazon’s Business with Fear

In early May 2020, a few hours before sunrise, four police officers arrested a man who had broken into Gemma Smith’s home in Cape Coral, southwest Florida (name changed by the editor). The police were already familiar with the house: it was the second time in six months that they had been called to see Gemma Smith. The burglar was Smith’s ex-boyfriend. After a 15-year on-off relationship in which he had physically and mentally abused her, they linked their little daughter with him.

Her ex claimed he got in through a window. But thanks to a program to combat domestic violence in the city on the southwest coast of Florida, Smith had an Amazon ring camera on her doorbell. The video showed the suspect gaining access to her home with a key she hadn’t known about until then. After obtaining an injunction against him, the police confiscated the key and arrested the ex. Smith sent them the footage from the ring camera, which they used to bring charges of break-in and breach of the injunction.

A private surveillance system

When Ring launched a crowdfunding campaign eight years ago, the market for home surveillance systems and video doorbells was virtually non-existent. Ring has conquered it: The business analytics company Strategy Analytics estimates that Ring sold 1.4 million devices worldwide in 2020 – as many as the four biggest competitors put together. Ring attracts many consumers with the marketing argument that the cameras can reduce crime by keeping an eye on verandas, driveways and – often also – passers-by.