Ring Video Doorbell
Ring LLC · Camera / Doorbell
Staff Reviewed — a person at DeSpy reviewed this rating.
Index
Captures video and audio of private spaces; the FTC found employees viewed thousands of customer videos including bedrooms and bathrooms, and Ring now partners with Axon and Flock Safety to field police footage requests.
Why this rating
Ring's FTC settlement found employees and contractors accessed thousands of customers' private videos including bedrooms and bathrooms, and its 2025 Axon/Flock Safety partnership expansion deepened law-enforcement footage access, representing some of the most severe substantiated privacy failures in this dataset.
What it is
- Microphone
- Camera
- GPS / location
- Requires a cloud account
- Manufacturer
- Ring LLC
- Category
- Camera / Doorbell
- Model years
- 2013-present
- Market status
- Current
- Companion app
- Ring / Neighbors
The evidence 11
Independent research, regulatory action, lawsuits and journalism about how this device handles personal data — the "what actually happens" axis. Each links to its source.
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FTC case record documenting Ring's $5.8 million settlement over employees' and contractors' unauthorized access to customers' private camera footage.
Why it matters here: FTC case record is specifically about Ring's employee/contractor camera-access violations.
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FTC press release detailing how Ring employees and contractors accessed thousands of customers' private videos, including intimate spaces, and how weak security enabled account takeovers.
Why it matters here: FTC press release detailing the specific Ring privacy and security violations.
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Investigation into Ring's expanding partnerships allowing law enforcement to request footage from private doorbell cameras.
Why it matters here: CNBC investigation into Ring's law-enforcement footage-request partnerships.
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EFF analysis criticizing Ring's growing law-enforcement integrations, including its 2025 partnership expansions with Axon/Flock Safety.
Why it matters here: EFF criticism of Ring's Axon/Flock Safety law-enforcement integrations.
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FTC disbursed over $5.6 million in refunds to Ring customers as part of the 2023 privacy and security settlement.
Why it matters here: FTC refund distribution stemming directly from the Ring settlement.
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NPR coverage combining the Ring privacy settlement with the concurrent Alexa children's-privacy settlement announced the same week.
Why it matters here: NPR coverage combining the Ring and Alexa settlements.
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Axios summary of the FTC complaint against Ring over employee access to private customer video footage.
Why it matters here: Axios summary of the FTC complaint against Ring.
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CNN coverage of the FTC's 2023 complaint and settlement with Ring over privacy and security failures.
Why it matters here: CNN coverage of the FTC-Ring settlement.
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Radio segment examining Ring's law-enforcement video-request partnerships and community reaction.
Why it matters here: Radio coverage of Ring's police partnerships.
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Coverage of the FTC's refund distribution to Ring customers affected by the employee-surveillance privacy violations.
Why it matters here: Coverage of the Ring refund program.
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Consumer Reports explainer on how Ring's Community Requests feature lets police solicit doorbell footage directly from users.
Why it matters here: Consumer Reports explainer on Ring's Community Requests feature for police footage solicitation.
Where your data goes
Third parties this device's data has flowed to, and on what basis. An ended tag means the flow has verifiably stopped — it stays listed for the record.
- Axon / Flock Safety
- Law Enforcement (generic/government requests)
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Descriptive, cited, not legal advice; ratings are versioned and corrections create a new version. Data from the IoT Info Grabber DB research project, CC BY-SA 4.0.