Everything Cops Say About Amazon's Ring Is Scripted or Approved by Ring

upstart writes for AnonymousLuser:

Everything Cops Say About Amazon's Ring Is Scripted or Approved by Ring

Amazon's home security company Ring has garnered enormous control over the ways in which its law enforcement partners are allowed to portray its products, going as far as to review and even author statements attributed to police in the press, according to emails and documents obtained by Gizmodo.

This summer, Ring even urged a Florida police department to delay announcing its partnership with the company for weeks, telling officials that it preferred to keep the spotlight on a separate initiative launched by the city, designed to incentivize the purchase of its home surveillance products.

[...] Contracts and other documents obtained from police departments in three states show that Ring pre-writes almost all of the messages shared by police across social media, and attempts to legally obligate police to give the company final say on all statements about its products, even those shared with the press. (In exchange, police are also given the ability to approve any Ring press releases that directly reference the partnering police agency.)

[...] Ring said in a statement that its subsidy programs are different than those it enacts directly with law enforcement. "Because these programs are negotiated and implemented separately, we strive to also keep communication around these programs separate," it said. "This helps residents clearly understand each program, their benefits, and their unique differences."

Read more of this story at SoylentNews.