The Center for Democracy & Technology, Global Partners Digital, the Internet Freedom Foundation, the Internet Society, and Mozilla, constituting the Steering Committee of the Global Encryption Coalition (GEC), issued the following:
The mission of the Global Encryption Coalition (GEC) is to promote and defend encryption in key countries and multilateral fora where it is under threat. The GEC also supports efforts by companies to offer encrypted services to their users.
On August 26, Amazon subsidiary Ring LLC announced it would begin to roll out “Throw Away the Key Encryption” (TAKE) for Ring users worldwide. Ring is a vendor of home security systems known for doorbell and other cameras that record videos with sound. With TAKE, videos are encrypted by default and accessible to Ring for only 24 hours with only limited access to process videos. After that period, they become inaccessible to Ring without user consent.
When TAKE is fully implemented, the number of disclosures to law enforcement of unencrypted user content will likely decrease to near zero. According to Ring’s transparency reports, Ring disclosed user content in response to 2,145 law enforcement demands in the past year. Unencrypted user metadata and subscriber information will still be available to law enforcement.
This is a significant, positive step forward in securing video footage in or near a Ring user’s home, which can be very sensitive. We are glad to see Ring take this approach following concerns about its engagement with law enforcement, and concerns that its “Search Party” feature, which can help find a lost dog using object recognition, could also be used for law enforcement surveillance.
TAKE adds new security to Ring users’ video footage and more user control, but it is not an end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) service. TAKE gives Ring users full access to AI services, such as descriptions of events in videos, the ability of a Ring user to search their videos for specific events or objects using plain language search terms, and the “Familiar Faces” feature, through which facial recognition that a user opts into triggers a notice to the user when a previously designated “familiar face” appears in captured video. Ring continues to offer its users the higher level of protection afforded by E2EE with limited video sharing, but users who opt into E2EE cannot share videos with family or other trusted users and lose access to the AI services described above.
We are encouraged by Ring’s rollout of Throw Away the Key Encryption. Encryption keeps people’s communications safe, and it enables freedom of expression, freedom of association, and other human rights. It helps protect personal communications from criminals, malicious actors, and unauthorized access. We encourage Ring to explore expanding access to E2EE without loss of functionality, and to explore encrypting its users’ metadata.