Amazon Ring patents describe a dystopian future where networks of cameras identify 'suspicious' peop
Link to tweet
https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ring-patents-describe-cameras-recognizing-skin-texture-odor-2021-12
No paywall
https://archive.ph/JDeJk
Amazon's Ring division could see a future where networks of its cameras scan neighborhoods and identify "suspicious" people by recognizing their faces, retinas, irises, skin texture, gait, voices, and even odor, according to a review of recent patents granted to the company.
Ring sells internet-connected doorbells with cameras built in. It doesn't offer facial recognition, but Amazon has been awarded 17 patents recently for doorbell-camera features that mention "facial recognition." All but one of these filings describe a wide range of other biometric-recognition technologies, Insider's review found.
Taken together, the patents depict a world where all Ring cameras in a neighborhood work together to create composite images of "suspicious" people, all the doors on a house lock if those suspicious people appear on camera, and property owners get alerts when anyone other than them moves a package left on the doorstep. (Read the full list of Amazon patents reviewed by Insider here).
New products don't always emerge from patents, but a series of similar filings can give clues about a company's priorities and vision. Ring had a research-and-development arm in Ukraine that researched facial recognition as early as 2016, and its computer-vision research has continued under Amazon. In 2020, Amazon said it would stop selling facial-recognition software to police, but that doesn't apply to consumer products.
*snip*
= new reply since forum marked as read
weekend. The thing is I was notified by the sender that it had been delivered and when we got home after dark, I searched everywhere for it; front porch, back deck, sides of house. When I noticed a package sitting at my 1-door-away neighbor's house, I even had my husband go check to see if it was mine. Nope. I called the sender to notify it that the package was missing or never delivered. Another was going to be sent.
Then we get a knock on our door and it's the 2 doors away neighbor holding my package. This was his explanation:
"I saw a package sitting in the middle of your driveway so I brought it home." (Umm, no delivery outfit has ever left a package in the middle of our driveway. It's always either on our covered front porch or next to garage door.)
That's it. I was stunned. He thought he did me a favor. I had to call the sender back to let them know to cancel the replacement order. 
I don't trust my whack-a-doodle neighbors to "watch out" for us as it is. Why would I ever want to be connected to them by Ring?
