Your Google Nest camera footage might be shared with police without a warrant 

Under certain circumstances, Google might share Nest security camera footage with law enforcement agencies in the US. This revelation comes only weeks after Amazon made headlines for giving out video footage from its Ring security cameras to law enforcement, all without a warrant. Google says it only shares data with law enforcement in a case of emergency, though the specific definition of an “emergency” might be up to police.

According to a report from CNET, Amazon and Google are some of the only companies currently following this emergency practice. Arlo, Eufy, Wyze, and Apple have all confirmed to the publication that they don’t share data unless there is a proper warrant or court order.

The definition of an “emergency” that warrants this prompt sharing feels fuzzy. Google and Amazon both say that in most cases, law enforcement agencies have to follow proper procedures and produce warrants, subpoenas, or other court orders. But when it comes to emergencies, Ring only asks law enforcement to fill out a two-page form, saying it’s only meant when “there is an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to any person requiring disclosure of information without delay.” These are then reviewed by a dedicated team that decides if the request is honored or denied, though this process doesn’t appear to be very transparent.

Google follows similar practices. The company also leaves the door open for sharing data with law enforcement when there is an emergency situation, though there wasn't any further information on the process given. Google cites the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which states that providers like Google may share information with law force without a subpoena. However, this isn’t mandatory — there is a “may” in that sentence, after all.

The other companies mentioned — Arlo, Eufy, Wyze, and Apple — make clear that they are not legally required to share data. In fact, Apple and Eufy both use end-to-end encryption and can’t share footage at all because they simply don’t have access to it. This is not the case for Arlo and Wyze, but they make clear that if an emergency requires access to cameras, law enforcement agencies could easily jump through the hoops of obtaining a warrant, which likely doesn’t require terribly more effort and time than filling out an Amazon or Google-provided form.

Amazon disclosed that so far, it allowed 11 requests this year, and has informed affected owners once the emergency was over. Even before this, there was controversy in 2019 that some employees had unrestricted access to security cameras. If you're looking to get into the security camera market, it might be best to stick with some of the best security cams from Arlo, Eufy, Wyze, and Apple. Quality-of-life features like Nest Aware might not be worth this possible intrusion of privacy.

( Details and picture courtesy from Source, the content is auto-generated from RSS feed.)

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