“The mission has always been making the neighborhood safer. We’ve had a lot of success in terms of deterring crime and solving crimes that would otherwise not be solved as quickly.” So said said Eric Kuhn, the general manager of Neighbors, Ring’s crime-focused companion app, as he explained why the growing partnership between Amazon’s Ring and local police departments is a good thing. In some ways, it probably is. But it’s also another sign of the forces driving us towards becoming a surveillance society, and the increasingly government-like role of big tech. I spend a lot of time worrying about the the role of technology, but when I heard my neighbors installed a couple of industrial grade cameras along the routes approaching my block, it made me happy. And there’s the rub. WaPo: Doorbell-camera firm Ring has partnered with 400 police forces, extending surveillance concerns. (Big tech companies may not be able to police themselves. But that doesn’t mean they can’t police us.)