Ring, Amazon’s home security brand, sells convenience wrapped in surveillance. Its doorbell cameras and security systems collect massive amounts of video and audio data, feeding Amazon’s growing network of consumer surveillance. Ring has shared user footage with police without consent and has partnerships with hundreds of law enforcement agencies, helping expand state and corporate monitoring into everyday life. Buying Ring means funding both Amazon’s monopoly and its role in normalizing constant surveillance.
Amazon is rated High Impact because its harms are systemic and interlocking.
Environmental Harm: Delivery fleets, aviation cargo, and data centers generate massive emissions and plastic waste, while public pledges mask lobbying against climate regulation.
Human Rights Violations: Workers face surveillance, injury-level quotas, and unsafe delivery speeds. Migrant workers in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere face wage theft and coercion.
Military & Conflict Complicity: AWS is central to surveillance states. Project Nimbus embeds Amazon in Israel’s occupation and war crimes, supplying AI and data services to its military and government.
The result: consumer spending that powers a machine which entrenches inequality, accelerates climate collapse, and sustains state violence worldwide.