--- title: "A New Amazon Camera Patent Is Straight Out of “1984”" description: "A new patent application by commerce giant Amazon describes a smart doorbell that monitor neighborhoods and report suspicious activity to the authorities." date: "2018-12-02" modified: "2018-12-02" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/new-amazon-patent-1984" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "Amazon" - "james siminoff" - "ring" --- # A New Amazon Camera Patent Is Straight Out of “1984” ![A new patent application by commerce giant Amazon describes a smart doorbell that monitor neighborhoods and report suspicious activity to the authorities]() *\Image: Frédéric BISSON / Emily Cho\* ## Neighborhood Watch A [new patent application]() by commerce giant Amazon describes a smart doorbell that would use a camera to monitor users' neighborhoods using facial recognition technology and report suspicious activity to the authorities. Needless to say, it immediately made privacy advocates uncomfortable. "The patent is a roadmap for Amazon's disturbing vision of surveillance in the future," American Civil Liberties Union attorney Jacob Snow [told *CNN Business*](). "People have the right to go about their daily lives without being watched and tracked. And there's no assurance the resolution of the doorbell camera is very good." ## Patent Pending The patent for the doorbell lists as its inventor James Siminoff, the CEO of home security startup Ring, which Amazon [acquired in February 2018](). There's no guarantee that a patent will become an actual product — remember those [goofy VR rollerskates]() Google filed an application for in November? — but CNN speculated that Amazon's interest in the doorbell is connected to its social network called Neighbors, which is built on Ring technology and is [meant to share information]() about thieves who steal packages. The implication: that Amazon's system could become a [distributed digital narc]() that collected information even about neighbors who chose not to use its smart products — like a private-sector version of the ubiquitous cameras in George Orwell's "1984." ## Good Kid, Smart City Amazon and Ring's peers seem circumspect about the patent. Matt Pruit, the chief solutions architect at NEC, which also develops facial recognition tech, told *CNN* that the impact of the technology depends on how it's rolled out. "Smart city or surveillance state are two sides of the same coin," he told *CNN*. "Technology in itself is neither good or bad. It's how it's used in the end." **READ MORE:** [Amazon may want to identify burglars with facial recognition tech]() \[*CNN Business*\] ***More on Amazon facial recognition: [Police Surveillance Is Getting a Helping Hand from…Amazon!]()*** ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()