Ring, TBI

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Tennessee Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

Law enforcement agencies around the country have “partnerships” with Ring, Amazon’s home security company. These partnerships involve an exchange: Law enforcement gets access to Ring’s “Law Enforcement Neighborhoods Portal.” The Law Enforcement Neighborhood Portal is a way that police can request Ring camera footage from people that use Neighbors, Ring has a "neighborhood watch" app. (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qvg48d/everything-you-need-to-know-about-ring-amazons-surveillance-camera-company)

Therefore, I hereby request the following records :

1) All instructional materials, presentations and presentation materials (including recorded video and audio, PowerPoint files, prepared remarks, and slides formats), and other guidance on the use of Ring devices and/or the Neighbors app. This includes A) any notes taken during meetings that discussed the use of Ring devices and/or the Neighbors app, B) any explanations (whether internally or externally generated) of how Ring devices and/or the Neighbors app work, and C) any other document that has been used to help explain the use of Ring devices and/or the Neighbors app to any party, including internal documentation, public relations materials, and executive summaries.

2) A copy of any privacy impact assessments, use policies, standard operating procedures, data retention policies, legal opinions, warranties, non-disclosure agreements, contracts, liability waivers, insurance agreements, Requests for Proposals, Responses to Requests for Proposal, Memorandums of Understanding, Letters of Interest, usage policies, or informal agreements between the police department and Ring.

3) A copy of any funding opportunity announcements, grant applications and grantor status/progress reports, reports to legislative bodies, annual reports that mention Ring or the Neighbors app, as well as audit records, including but not limited to security audits of the software, misuse reports, and reports to oversight bodies.

4) Any digital communications including but not limited to emails and text messages) as well as documents, (including but not limited to PDF, word processing, excel, and slide documents) that mention Ring or the Neighbors app.

5) Any digital communications (including but not limited to emails and text messages) with Ring representatives.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes. It will be used in the course of reporting for Motherboard, VICE’s science and technology website (www.motherboard.vice.com).

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 7 business days, as the statute requires.

Please note that I am a citizen of Tennessee, and am using MuckRock's services to help manage and track my request.

Sincerely,

Kent Hoover

Hi, thanks so much for your help with this request! Could you also possibly send over a copy of the sample MOU that Ring provided for review (understanding, of course, that TBI didn't sign it)?

Great! Thank you so much for your help. I really appreciate it.

Best,
Caroline