Amazon Begins Dictating Terms To Local Police As It Builds Residential Video Surveillance Network

USG Surveillance firm Amazon has begun dictating terms to local police agencies in the United States (archived). Amazon is compelling agencies which have "partnered" with them in a program related to surveillance cameras dressed as doorbells and attached to private homes, to use Amazon's preferred marketing points when discussing the program.

The program involves a portal that Amazon offers to local "law enforcement" from which the law enforcement agencies can "request" footage from particular deployed cameras. The cameras themselves are allegedly deployed primarily through sales to consumers though a substantial fraction of deployed cameras have been distributed through a number of "donation", "contest", and "sweepstakes" gimmicks.