Overview
- Ring’s new Familiar Faces feature is now reaching U.S. users, allowing a private catalog of up to 50 labeled people with personalized notifications and per-face alert controls.
- Amazon says biometric data is processed in the cloud, encrypted, not shared without consent, not used to train AI models, and that unlabeled faces are automatically deleted after 30 days.
- The feature remains unavailable in Illinois, Texas, and Portland, Oregon, due to local biometric-privacy restrictions.
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Sen. Ed Markey urge Amazon to drop the feature over biometric privacy risks and the potential for expanded surveillance.
- Skepticism stems from Ring’s past issues, including a 2023 $5.8 million FTC fine and law-enforcement ties such as a partnership with Flock Safety, while Amazon says it cannot compile cross-location detection histories despite questions raised by Ring’s Search Party pet-finding capability.