From my skimming, the article doesn't explain why the police knew to ask for the footage.
Did he volunteer it to them initially, or to someone else? Is he part of a ring neighborhood thing? (They have a function to offer to share footage with your neighbors). Or did the police simply throw out the dragnet and look to see if Ring had any customers in the area? I suspect it's one of the first two options.
In such a case, you're better off not offering your information to begin with (unfortunately), and you'd likely be okay with a Ring as long as you didn't advertise its existence online. You'd be better off still with a non-cloud solution that, while subject to subpoena-or-something, flies under the radar even more.
Ring doorbells are very distinctive and easy to see from the street, especially at night. It's possible they just drove down the street looking for the houses that have them.
Did he volunteer it to them initially, or to someone else? Is he part of a ring neighborhood thing? (They have a function to offer to share footage with your neighbors). Or did the police simply throw out the dragnet and look to see if Ring had any customers in the area? I suspect it's one of the first two options.
In such a case, you're better off not offering your information to begin with (unfortunately), and you'd likely be okay with a Ring as long as you didn't advertise its existence online. You'd be better off still with a non-cloud solution that, while subject to subpoena-or-something, flies under the radar even more.