Amazon building

Amazon Patent Shows Potential for Drones To Be Next Frontier in Home Security

The tech behemoth already plans to roll out delivery drones. It’s now considering offering a home surveillance service to customers.

Amazon has already earned a slew of media attention for its plans to deploy a fleet of delivery drones in the near future. Now, the company has scored its first win in exploring the potential for those drones to also serve as a home surveillance tool for customers.

2015 patent for surveillance drones filed by the company earned approval from federal officials last month, according to National Public Radio. While plans for this service are still in the early stages, the patent envisions a day in which customers can request that a drone perform a “surveillance action” of their home on an hourly, daily or weekly basis.

The drone would film a specific home and determine the probability of a “surveillance event,” or disturbance, at the home. Some examples offered by the company include a property breach, an open garage door, a fire or a broken window.

If the drone determines that there is a high probability of a security issue, it could send an alert to local fire and police authorities or the user themselves, depending on the severity of the event.

There are some privacy concerns associated with the patent, including the possibility that neighbors’ homes and other property could be filmed without the permission or knowledge of the property owners. The drones also have the potential to identify people with permission to be on the property as “intruders” and incorrectly alert authorities.

“We don’t yet have a sense of the violation we might feel on account of the widespread use of drones,” Jeff Ward, the director of Duke University’s Center on Law and Technology, told NPR.

Amazon officials said they would use geofencing technology to draw a specific perimeter of surveillance and blur out any data that is outside of the selected area, NPR reported.

"Some reports have suggested that this technology would spy or gather data on homes without authorization," Amazon spokesperson John Tagle said in a statement. "To be clear, that's not what the patent says. The patent clearly states that it would be an opt-in service available to customers who authorize monitoring of their home."

As The Verge points out, there is also a significant chance that Amazon will never offer the drone service, just as the company has dropped previous ideas after patenting them. But with the tech behemoth planning to launch drone delivery in a “matter of months,” customers should not be surprised when Amazon comes forward with the power to look after their home while they’re on vacation.

About the Author

Haley Samsel is an Associate Content Editor for the Infrastructure Solutions Group at 1105 Media.

Featured

  • Allegion, Comfort Technologies Implement Mobile Credentials at the Artisan Apartment Homes in Florida

    Artisan Apartment Homes, a luxury apartment complex in Dunedin, Florida, recently transitioned from mechanical keys to electronic locks and centralized system software with support from Allegion US, a leading provider of security solutions, technology and services, and Florida-based Comfort Technologies, which specializes in deploying multifamily access control, IoT devices and software management solutions. Read Now

  • Mall of America Deploys AI-Powered Analytics to Enhance Parking Intelligence

    Mall of America®, the largest shopping and entertainment complex in North America, announced an expansion of its ongoing partnership with Axis Communications to deploy cutting-edge car-counting video analytics across more than a dozen locations. With this expansion, Mall of America (MOA) has boosted operational efficiency, improved safety and security, and enabled more informed decision-making around employee scheduling and streamlining transportation for large events. Read Now

  • Security Industry Association Launches New “askSIA” AI Tool

    The Security Industry Association (SIA) has unveiled a brand-new SIA member benefit – askSIA, a conversational AI agent designed to help users get the most out of their SIA membership, easily access SIA resources and find the latest information on SIA’s training and courses, reports and publications, events, certification offerings and more. SIA members can easily find askSIA by visiting the SIA homepage or looking for the askSIA icon in the top left of webpages. Read Now

    • Industry Events
  • Industry Embraces Mobile Access, Biometrics and AI

    A combination of evolving workplace dynamics, technology innovation and new user expectations is changing how people enter and interact with physical spaces. Access control is at the heart of these changes. Combined with biometrics and AI, mobile access control has become increasingly crucial for deploying entry solutions that are seamless, secure and adaptive to user needs. Read Now

  • Sustainable Video Solution Delivered for Landmark City of London Office Development

    An advanced, end-to-end video solution from IDIS, with a focus on reducing waste and costs, has helped a major office development in the City of London align its security with sustainability objectives. Read Now

New Products

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • Connect ONE’s powerful cloud-hosted management platform provides the means to tailor lockdowns and emergency mass notifications throughout a facility – while simultaneously alerting occupants to hazards or next steps, like evacuation.

    Connect ONE®

    Connect ONE’s powerful cloud-hosted management platform provides the means to tailor lockdowns and emergency mass notifications throughout a facility – while simultaneously alerting occupants to hazards or next steps, like evacuation.

  • ResponderLink

    ResponderLink

    Shooter Detection Systems (SDS), an Alarm.com company and a global leader in gunshot detection solutions, has introduced ResponderLink, a groundbreaking new 911 notification service for gunshot events. ResponderLink completes the circle from detection to 911 notification to first responder awareness, giving law enforcement enhanced situational intelligence they urgently need to save lives. Integrating SDS’s proven gunshot detection system with Noonlight’s SendPolice platform, ResponderLink is the first solution to automatically deliver real-time gunshot detection data to 911 call centers and first responders. When shots are detected, the 911 dispatching center, also known as the Public Safety Answering Point or PSAP, is contacted based on the gunfire location, enabling faster initiation of life-saving emergency protocols.