Ring’s Response to Our Recent Settlement With the FTC

Today, Ring reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding allegations about our privacy and security practices from years ago. We take our responsibility to protect our customers’ privacy and security extremely seriously, and believe it’s important to provide context in relation to this settlement. We want our customers to know that the FTC complaint draws on matters that Ring promptly addressed on its own, well before the FTC began its inquiry; mischaracterizes our security practices; and ignores the many protections we have in place for our customers. While we disagree with the FTC’s allegations and deny violating the law, this settlement resolves this matter so we can focus on innovating on behalf of our customers.

Ring has industry-leading protections in place to secure customer accounts.

As the FTC acknowledges, Ring has long offered customers the ability to enable Two-Factor Authentication to secure their accounts. In 2020, we became the first smart home security company to implement mandatory Two-Step Verification for all our customers. Since then, we’ve continued to enhance our industry-leading security practices. These practices include regularly scanning for and notifying customers if we determine they are logging in with a username and password combination they used on another website and that was exposed online, and locking customers’ accounts and requiring password resets in the rare instances we detect unauthorized access. In 2021, we launched support for authenticator apps, and added CAPTCHA to our Apps and website to protect against automated or unwanted login attempts.

Ring provides customers with control over their stored videos.

We employ industry-leading protections to safeguard customer videos and make it easy for customers to understand and manage important privacy and security settings. In 2021, we were the first major smart home security provider to offer Video End-to-End Encryption as an advanced encryption option for customers. Through Control Center on the Ring app, customers can manage Shared Users, choose video storage times, and manage devices authorized to access their account. They also can delete their Ring videos from the Ring app at any time.

Ring restricts employee access to customers’ stored videos.

Since our founding, we have consistently taken steps to help protect customer privacy, including ensuring our internal practices prioritize customer privacy. Today, we have strong policies and controls in place that restrict employee access to customers’ stored videos, and employees are unable to view, access, or control livestreams. If we discover any employee violating our policies, we take appropriate and swift action, which can include firing the individual and referring them to law enforcement.

We work every day to earn and keep our customers’ trust. We will continue to invent more privacy and security features on behalf of our customers, and ensure they are aware of the controls and options available to them. To learn more about our commitment to customer privacy, visit www.ring.com/privacy.

Have a Story?

If you have stories or videos you’d like to share with us, please send them to stories@ring.com.