Ring says its new encryption limits what it can give police

image via The Verge

August 26, 2026, 12:55 PM

• •TAKE uses rotating encryption keys for Ring footage and discards Ring’s copy of each key after 24 hours.
• •The feature will roll out gradually from September and become the default on all Ring cameras, including for users without a subscription.
• •Unlike Ring’s end-to-end encryption mode, TAKE still supports cloud-based features such as Smart Alerts, Video Search, Unusual Event Alert, and Video Descriptions.
• •Ring says that under TAKE it can respond to legal requests with encrypted video files and non-video subscriber information, not readable footage.
• •EFF’s Thorin Klosowski said the system may create a false sense of security because it still depends on trusting Ring’s implementation and may not stop requests for future footage.

Ring is rolling out a new camera encryption system called TAKE, short for Throw Away the Key Encryption, that will become the default for all customers starting in September. The system rotates encryption keys every five minutes and deletes Ring’s own cloud-held copies after 24 hours, while still allowing cloud features such as smart alerts, video descriptions, and AI-powered search. Ring says this limits what it can provide to law enforcement to encrypted video files and non-video account information, but it does not fully match the protections of end-to-end encryption. Privacy advocates at the Electronic Frontier Foundation said the design offers only incremental improvements and still requires users to trust Amazon and Ring.

Read original article