Google, Amazon Allow Police to Get Home Camera Footage without Warrant

Arlo, Apple, Wyze, and Anker, owner of Eufy, all confirmed that they won’t give authorities access to one's smart home camera’s footage unless they’re shown a warrant or court order. Google and Amazon, however, are doing just the opposite.

If police claim there’s been an "emergency" situation, Google and Amazon are likely to present footage without even asking for a warrant or court order. CNET points out, Google’s privacy policy has a similar carveout as Amazon’s, meaning law enforcement can access data from its Nest products without a warrant.

Although both companies say that in most cases, authorities will have to present a warrant, subpoena, or similar court order before they’ll hand over data, they can make exceptions if a law enforcement submits an emergency request.

Google's information request policy says:

If we reasonably believe that we can prevent someone from dying or from suffering serious physical harm, we may provide information to a government agency — for example, in the case of bomb threats, school shootings, kidnappings, suicide prevention, and missing persons cases. We still consider these requests in light of applicable laws and our policies.

Google’s transparency report didn't include information specifically about emergency requests, while Amazon reported that it had already fulfilled 11 such requests this year.