How Did the FBI Obtain Nancy Guthrie’s Nest Doorbell Video?
Like millions of Americans, I anxiously followed the news of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, so I was somewhat relieved when the FBI announced the release of new video footage of the suspect. Finally, there was some lead, even if it was just a doorbell recording of a masked stranger.
When I saw the video, I assumed the FBI had it all along and was finally releasing it. But that turned out to be completely wrong. If you’ve been following the case closely, you may know that law enforcement had previously confirmed that Guthrie’s Google Nest camera had been disabled (presumably by an intruder) and that she didn’t have a subscription that would allow video storage on either the doorbell or the cloud. And yet, despite the doorbell being a dead end, the FBI appears to have created this video out of thin air.
If you have a Google Nest device in your home or one connected to one, this might raise concerns. Of course, it’s one thing for law enforcement to be able to obtain video footage from your subscription or the device itself. But even if you don’t store video footage on your Nest, it seems there’s still a way to access it. How did the FBI do this, and what does this mean for the privacy of your Nest devices?
The FBI likely edited the video together from fragments.
In short, we don’t know exactly how the FBI obtained these videos, but there are a few clues. According to FBI Director Kash Patel , the Google Nest video was recovered “from residual data stored in backend systems.” That’s pretty vague, though the FBI isn’t known for its transparency .
However, according to experts interviewed by NBC News , it is possible to obtain data from the “complex infrastructure” of cloud cameras, including Google Nest devices. Retired FBI agent Timothy Gallagher told NBC News that Guthrie’s Nest camera could have sent images to Google’s cloud service or at least stored data locally on the device’s hardware, even though she didn’t have a paid subscription to Nest. Therefore, the FBI could have obtained video footage from the cloud or compiled video from this data.
Both options work based on the subscription-free nature of Nest cameras: although you need to pay Google to save video from Nest cameras, some Nest devices record event history and store it on the device. The third-generation Nest wired doorbell can store up to 10 seconds of video, while the first- and second-generation wired doorbells can store up to three hours of event history, all without a subscription. They also support live video streaming when motion is detected, which may impact the amount of video data stored on the device or in the cloud.
It’s entirely possible that the person approaching the camera activated the doorbell, saving a history of events. But since it took the FBI so long to provide the footage, and since the director claims it was obtained from “residual data,” I suspect it wasn’t readily accessible in Guthrie’s Google Home app. Perhaps the history was saved to the cloud, but it’s unclear where. Perhaps it was overwritten, but the FBI was able to reconstruct it using the recovered data. I’m leaning toward the latter option, since authorities stated the camera was turned off. Unfortunately, we don’t have a definitive answer at this point, even if this theory is correct.
I’ve reached out to Google for comment and will update this article if I hear back.
Should you get rid of your Nest camera due to privacy concerns?
Based on current information, your doorbell or Nest camera is unlikely to pose a threat to your Fourth Amendment rights, but I don’t blame anyone for worrying. After all, if you don’t have a Nest subscription, you might have been reassured by the idea that your video recordings aren’t stored anywhere, meaning law enforcement or other authorities won’t have anything to seize if you somehow come to their attention. However, that doesn’t seem to be entirely true.
However, without a subscription, you don’t have access to the entire collection of videos ever recorded by your Nest camera. You can save a limited history of events based on motion detection, but it’s limited to three hours of data. Your device may contain data that an organization like the FBI could theoretically use to recover video recordings, but this is likely true for any camera or smart doorbell system—not just the Nest.
Furthermore, this isn’t a Ring-like situation—Google doesn’t partner with organizations like Flock to help law enforcement request video footage from users. Nest also lacks Ring’s “Search Party” feature, which could turn a neighborhood into a kind of surveillance state, and likely not just for finding lost dogs . Of course, I’m not dismissing all the security and privacy concerns: by installing a commercially available smart camera on your front door, you’re handing over your data to companies like Google or Amazon. If you want to eliminate the risk of the FBI obtaining video footage from your doorbell, you simply can’t install a doorbell with a camera. But barring a warrant or a Nancy Guthrie-like situation, the chances of video footage from your Nest doorbell being used against you seem pretty slim.