‎Notification to customers regarding camera footage requests by law enforcement | SimpliSafe Support Home
 
The_Bull's profile

Thursday, February 22nd, 2024 4:53 PM

Notification to customers regarding camera footage requests by law enforcement

It seems SimpliSafe does not necessarily notify customers when law enforcement requests camera footage. Please raise this issue to SimpliSafe such that this policy is changed. We should be notified and have the right to dissent.

Consumer Reports article:

Will the manufacturer comply with warrants and subpoenas?
Consumer Reports reached out to a number of major camera and doorbell manufacturers to find out how they handle warrants and subpoenas. Eleven brands—Amazon Cloud Cam, Arlo, August, Blink, Blue by ADT, Canary, D-Link, Eufy, Google Nest, Ring, and SimpliSafe—responded to our request. Most of the representatives said they objected to overly broad requests and provided data only when legally required to do so. Of note, Arlo says it will provide video only in a criminal case and only under a legally binding order supported by probable cause.

Will the manufacturer notify me when it provides footage?
Of the 11 brands we heard from, all but three will notify you when they have to disclose footage due to a request, as long as they are not legally barred from doing so. The exceptions are Arlo, Blue by ADT, and SimpliSafe. Arlo and SimpliSafe will not notify users; Blue by ADT didn’t specify either way.

Full article: https://www.consumerreports.org/legal-rights/police-ask-for-video-doorbell-recordings-what-to-do-faq-a8950763605/

Community Admin

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3K Messages

4 months ago

Hi @The_Bull, 

Our cameras are designed to protect our customers from intruders, not to intrude on their private lives. The only instance when video or audio may be accessed without permission is when required by law, regulation, subpoena, legal process or governmental request to share data with law enforcement. 

Given that these types of law enforcement requests are made in connection with an official criminal investigation, law enforcement typically asks that the request for video or audio be made confidential to preserve the integrity of the investigation. SimpliSafe has a legal obligation and is required to respond to these valid law enforcement requests. We cooperate with these confidentiality requests to ensure that we are not jeopardizing or impeding the investigation, and so we do our part to avoid potentially compromising the life or physical safety of any individual.

We have a defined process in place for validating and responding to official law enforcement requests, and even in those instances, we are committed to:

  • Only providing information within the scope and authority of the request and in accordance with applicable law.
  • Pushing back on requests that are overly broad or lacking specificity.
  • Ensuring that in fulfilling these requests, video and audio can only be accessed by extremely limited personnel and is not widely available.

2 Messages

Understood, but your policy says nothing of notifying the customer of those requests. This is highly disturbing. You should make the customer aware that law enforcement has requested video footage. This should be mandatory. Will you add this stipulation to your policy?

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