On top of turning their doorbell video feeds into a police surveillance network, Amazon’s home security subsidiary, Ring, also once tried to entice people with swag bags to snitch on their neighbours, Motherboard reported on Friday.
The instructions are purportedly all laid out in a 2017 company presentation the publication obtained.
Entitled “Digital Neighbourhood Watch”, the slideshow apparently promised promo codes for Ring merch and other unspecified “swag” for those who formed watch groups, reported suspicious activity to the police and raved about the device on social media.
What qualifies as suspicious activity, you ask?
According to the presentation, “strange vans and cars", “people posing as utility workers", and other dastardly deeds such as strolling down the street or peeping in car windows.
The slideshow goes on to outline monthly milestones for the group such as “Convert 10 new users” or ‘Solve a crime".