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What it knows: Camera identifies obstacles and lay-
out of rooms and furniture; when, how often and where
you clean.

Why that matters: When the deal was announced,
some Roomba owners balked at the idea that Amazon
might gain access to maps of their home, created by the
robots to help them clean. Even the vacuum data adds
to Amazon’s inferences about your cleaning — and
mess. Amazon declined to comment on the Roomba’s
data practices because the acquisition has not closed.

Ring camera and spot-

light

Online security cameras, some with motion-activated lights.

What it knows: Live and recorded video, audio and photos of
outside or inside your house; radar to detect and identify activity;
status of linked devices, like lights.

Why that matters: Ring video isn’t just staying inside the home.
Amazon recently turned Ring clips into a reality TV comedy show,
which frames surveillance as fun.

Ring also keeps records of some of what it learns from your cameras. When I downloaded my Ring data
(use this link to download yours), it included more than 25,000 entries for each time its cameras noticed
motion outside my home. Ring wouldn’t delete those records without deactivating the entire account.

Ring security sys-

tem

A network of alarms and sensors that work with
Ring cameras and can be connected to a monitoring service to request help from police or other emergency
services.