If this is accurate it is unnacceptable.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/01/ring-doorbell-app-packed-third-party-trackers
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ZDNet have picked up the story now too.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ring-app-for-android-full-to-the-brim-with-third-party-trackers-report/
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This isn’t cool at all. C’mon, ring… you charge us for the device, you charge us for the privilege of having cloud - stored video, do you *really* have to resort to this kind of skeevy behavior like some underfunded start-up?
Stop it. Right this instant. Rip all that garbage out of your app, when I use the app is no one business’ but MINE and MINE ALONE, you hear?
But of course you’ll ignore this and all other replies, so I’ll be writing my two RINOs in Congress to have a look at this.
Un-@$@#-believable!
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Agreed, this is not good. Checking my app and documentation I am not finding where Ring informed that this data would be collected and shared. I do not want to share my information with thrid parties that I do not enter into a commercial relationship with.
This needs to be disabled. In the meantime I will look at blocking this traffic from leaving my network, baring that will be exploring alternative options. I bought Ring for convience and security, to see them selling my data is gross misconduct in my eyes.
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Guess that’s why its plans are cheaper. Keep all purchase logs. I think years later we will receive settlement checks.
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Hi neighbors,
First and foremost, we want to remind you that at Ring, privacy is foundational - and guides every decision we make.
Like many companies, Ring uses third-party service providers to understand the use of our mobile app, which helps us improve features, optimize your customer experience, and evaluate the effectiveness of our marketing. We care deeply about providing our neighbors with the best possible experience and leverage these tools to help us do so.
We want to ensure you that these service providers’ use of the data provided is contractually limited to appropriate purposes, such as performing these services on our behalf, and not for other purposes. Ring is not in the business of selling customer information.For more information, please reference our Privacy Notice on Ring.com/privacy.
Thank you,
Chelsea
Massive Class Action Lawsuit down the road someday. No Encryption! Seriously. Where was that in the privacy agreement? NOWHERE, that’s where.
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Nice stock corporate answer.
We. Do. Not. Want. Our. Data. Going. To. Other. Entities. At. All.
Facebook? Why are you sending to Facebook? So they can use it on GraphAPI? Why would anyone *care*?
Branch.IO is receiving device’s IP, model, screen resolution and dpi settings. Why?
AppsFlyer is also getting our data, why? Why are they getting data from the magnetometer, gyros and accellermeters in our phones?
And MixPanel? Really? Mix panel, according to the EFF, is getting our *REAL NAMES*, email address, it’s ratting out our device’s model and OS versions and how many rings we have and where they’re at.
This is all very intrusive, and I’ll be honest with you – if you fail to act on this, if you keep selling our data to make more money, I personally will ditch you for SkyBell, even though that means I need to run 24 vdc wiring for it.
You will be found out, no matter how much you try to cloak it.
Your corporate non-answer basically says we’re powerless to stop you. Well, I can stop you by ditching your product for someone else’s.
I can’t belive Ring is being this tone-deaf, in the face of all the news on privacy violations, leaks, etc from all corners of the globe.
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Chelsea,
That answer feels less than truthful and is probably coped from an internal memo on how to respond in light of the news reports.
What value does collecting information to Facebook provide? Facebook is about advertising not a device usage analytics, it is about building a profile that can be monetized. AppsFlyer does what now? AppsFlyer is a mobile attribution & marketing analytics platform that enables companies to track and optimize their acquisition funnel. It like Facebook, is used to enhance comprehensive promotional campaigns to grow mobile business. Last I checked I paid for Ring device and annually for service/storage and I do not see Ring advertising to me within the App so someone must be benefiting from this tracking. Who?
The fact that Ring is sending data to third parties that it does not call out on the ring.com/third-party-services page is not building any confidence. Why did Ring choose to not disclose that they were sharing data with AppFlyer, Branch.io and Facebook?
Furthermore, the nice sounding message on ring.com/third-party-services that I can opt-out of tracking is disinformative at best, as the Ring app does not provide any noticable means for me to opt out of any tracking your app is collecting. Just opting out on a web browser does nothing for the mobile app or the device itself.
If Ring is to be trusted then it must first be transparent in what it is collecting, who it is sharing with and how it is using the data from it’s customers as that data belongs first and foremost to the customer.
I will be reaching out to my representatives, both local and national, to ask these questions, especially with the statements from an Amazon employee regarding lax security practices and access control issues for internal teams.
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Where do you see that Ring is selling your data? Or are you just making that part up?
@Neighbor_1313666 wrote:
This is all very intrusive, and I’ll be honest with you – if you fail to act on this, if you keep selling our data to make more money, I personally will ditch you for SkyBell, even though that means I need to run 24 vdc wiring for it.
1 Like
When have you heared of any company giving another company data for free?
I don’t have evidence in the form of receipts or anything like that, but again: when have you heard of any company giving another company data for free?
Listen, I like ring, ok? even tho their IR needs work, even tho their approach to privacy seems a bit lasseiz-faire, but this here and now is where I draw my line on the sand.
*no one* does this for free. There’s money being made from this, the question is who’s making it!
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Ring is not providing Facebook and AppsFlyer with data for free, there has to be a relationship entered and within business that relationship has to be mutually beneficial. Company A has users and can collect data on those users. Company B has advertisers that would like to know who they should advertiser to based on likelihood of gaining a positive response (selling something). Company B approaches Company A to get data on the users. Company A sends data to Company B and Company B sells to advertisers and pays Company A.
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I too just saw the EFF article today. There are a couple posts about this scattered throughout the Ring community, so it seems as if most customers are not aware. As I was researching this, I came across this article from January 9, which I was not aware of either:
“Ring fires four employees for abusing access to customer videos”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ring-fires-employees-for-abusing-access-to-customer-videos-2020-01-09/
Like many on this board, we have a lot invested in Ring products. I was avoiding Nest because it is owned by Google, and then to hear that Ring gave my data to Google AND Facebook…?!
This is the OPPOSITE of security and peace of mind!!!
People who buy Ring products and pay for the subscription to use those products are obviously concerned about security and privacy because that is what these products are supposed to be about.
The fact that Ring (which is an Amazon company) then goes and on sells our data to other companies without our permission just shows the huge amount of disconnect between Ring and their customers. They have shown us that they have no concern at all for our privacy and security. They seem to have an incredibly disrespectful attitude.
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Piling on so they hear us.
We pay a subscription for a security product. We will not accept third party data sharing of any kind, in any way.
It is too easy to switch. So many good products now.
NEST
Simplisafe
ADT
Arlo
…
Announce that there will be no third party trackers and release a new version of the app with that statement or see mass defection.
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Or alternatively go with Doorbird and get local access to the devices which you can lock down yourself.
This isn’t acceptable when Ring says they are focused on security.
“Ring gives MixPanel the most information by far. Users’ full names, email addresses, device information such as OS version and model, whether bluetooth is enabled, and app settings such as the number of locations a user has Ring devices installed in, are all collected and reported to MixPanel.”
How does providing real names, email address, location info enable security?
As paying customers of Ring we can’t accept this type of data sharing.
Hopefully, this gets full visibility to all Ring customers and pushes Ring to change their data practices.
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I do not believe that we was informed about this sharing information and hope that Ring retract this right I for one will not be happy about that
I found it interesting that Arlo has been recently publicizing it’s “privacy pledge,” starting with CES 2020:
“Arlo at CES 2020 – a bright floodlight camera, privacy as a pledge and opens its Smart Cloud to business as a SaaS”
https://www.gadgetguy.com.au/arlo-at-ces-2020/
Also, Arlo is currently having “Data Privacy Week Deals” on its website… And featured prominently on it’s home page is “Read our commitment to privacy.”
The timing of Arlo’s privacy marketing push seems highly conincidental… Did everyone in the industry already know, and we, the customers, are the last to know…?
Ring needs to have a REAL response to this. Your message emphasizes they points they need to address. Is the EFF wrong in their claims, or is it going to stop. Period.