Blink Video Doorbell

Blink was acquired by Amazon in December, 2017. Amazon's other security camera maker, Ring, has had a plethora of privacy and security issues they've had to deal with over the past couple years. Blink is not Ring. Blink video doorbells don't easily work on the Ring Neighbors app that has raised concerns for us around public safety and racism. You can manually upload a Blink video to the Neighbors app, but you can do that with any video. And these Blink cameras have a local storage option that means you aren’t required to store your video in the Cloud to access it, which is a much better privacy option.

Blink cameras have had a few reported security vulnerabilities, often found by security researchers and fixed quickly with firmware updates, which is how it should be (and a good reminder to keep your device’s firmware up-to-date!). It’s still concerning when security vulnerabilities like the ones found in Blink could allow bad guys to hijack your camera. This is always a concern with any security camera though.

Blink says they “are not in the business of selling our customers’ personal information to others,” which is good. However, they are an Amazon company, so expect that Amazon will try and sell you lots of stuff based on the personal information Blink does collect on you. All in all, the Blink video doorbell doesn't worry us too much as far as video doorbells go. Still, they’re cameras outside your house, so it's remember to not point them directly at your neighbor's bedroom. We all deserve privacy in our growing surveillance world.