If someone is following or watching you in a public place, it is kind of creepy, especially if you do not know the person, and you're all alone.
This forces you to stay at home where you can be safe from other creepy guys out there. However, this mindset might slightly change from now on, after Ring, an Amazon's brand of home security camera has recently admitted that some of their employees watch their customers' video footage from their cameras without seeking their approval.
It turns out that home may not be the safest place anymore, especially if you're all alone.
Ring Employees Admitted Watching Customers' Security Videos That is Beyond Their Duties
According to a Jan. 6 letter from Amazon that was addressed to five U.S. senators such as Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Edward Markey, Sen. Gary Peters, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, and Sen. Christopher Coons, Ring company had admitted that the reports that few of their employees watched customers' video footages beyond their duties and without the customers' approval were all true.
"Over the last four years, Ring has received four complaints or inquiries regarding a team member's access to Ring video data," reads the letter. "Although each of the individuals involved in these incidents was authorized to view video data, the attempted access to that data exceeded what was necessary for their job functions."
As furthered, Ring stated that they already investigated and found out that 'an individual' was the one behind the issue and said that they immediately terminated the said individual after they found out the breach of contract of the former employee.
Aside from this, Ring also explained the issue that the Intercept website previously reported that some Ukrainian were given access to Ring video footage for research purposes.
As explained by the company, "The R&D team in Ukraine can only access publicly available videos and videos available from Ring employees, contractors, and friends and family of employees or contractors with their express consent."
When the Mashable asked Amazon to comment on the exact number of customers' that were compromised after the said information breach, Amazon stated that they "do not comment on personnel matters."
Group of Ring Users Already Filed Class Action Lawsuit Against Amazon
According to an article on Business insider, two families living in California are set to file a class-action lawsuit against Amazon after they claimed that they were 'allegedly hacked' through their Ring security home cameras.
The families claimed that the hacker of the device made racial comments against their 8-year-old daughter by saying, "I'm your best friend. I'm Santa Claus. Don't you want to be my best friend?"
This created a terrifying experience for the families that said that Ring is responsible for the hacking as their system tend to be vulnerable with tons of hackers.
Due to this, the plaintiffs accuse Ring of negligence, breach of implied contract, and other violations.
Ring Promises Stronger Security Measures
After all the major issues surrounding the Ring with its security protocols, the company promises to provide stronger security measures for its users.
However, Sen. Wyden recommended Ring to have two-factor authentication for all of the Ring users.
"Requiring two-factor for new accounts is a step in the right direction, but there are millions of consumers who already have a Ring camera in their homes who remain needlessly vulnerable to hackers. Amazon needs to go further-by, protecting all Ring devices with two-factor authentication. It is also disturbing to learn that Ring's encryption of user videos lags behind other companies, who ensure that only users have the encryption keys to access their data," added by him.
