SpyVeillance: Corrupt Cops Take Bribes from Sleezy Corps to Pimp SpyVeillance on You

[grarpamp]

https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2021-06-17/ring-influencer-marketing-los-angeles-police-department


 "In a bid to bolster its claims as a crime-fighting tool, Ring
deployed a tactic popular in the business world: influencer
marketing," reports the Los Angeles Times. "It selected a cadre of
brand ambassadors, rewarded them with free gadgets and discount codes,
and urged them to use their connections to promote the Santa Monica
security camera startup via word of mouth.

"In this case, the brand ambassadors were Los Angeles Police
Department officers." "You are killing it, by the way. Your code has
14 uses, eleven more and I will be sending you every device that we
sell," a Ring employee wrote to one officer in a 2016 email. "Do you
have any community meetings or crime prevention fairs coming up?"

Ring provided at least 100 LAPD officers with one or more free devices
or discount codes and encouraged them to recommend the company's
web-connected doorbells and security cameras, emails reviewed by The
Times reveal. In more than 15 cases, emails show that officers who
received free gadgets or discounts promoted Ring products to fellow
police officers or members of the public... [P]articipating officers
got tens of thousands of dollars' worth of free and discounted
electronics and helped establish a network of personal surveillance
cameras that the LAPD could tap into with much less red tape than the
typical means of obtaining video.

The practice, privacy and criminal justice experts warn, raises the
question of whether LAPD officers were serving the public in their
interactions with Ring, or if they were serving a private business and
themselves...

It's unclear whether LAPD officers disclosed their arrangements with
Ring to the public or fellow officers.