The 84-year-old mother of Today’s Show Host Savannah Guthrie has been missing since Feb. 1. The Nest camera on her front door was removed, and because investigators said she didn’t pay for a premium subscription, the footage is presumed lost. But yesterday, the FBI finally shared the footage of a masked and armed man of interest who entered his home the night he disappeared.

Brian Stelter, CNN’s chief media analyst, reported that Google’s technical expertise provided a break that would help investigators solve the case.

“Google, which owns Nest, was able to recover data from the Nest-made doorbell camera on Guthrie’s front door,” Stelter wrote in X. “The recovery process lasted several days and was technically so complicated that the investigators did not know if it would be successful,” he added, citing law enforcement sources.

But the footage also raises some uncomfortable questions about digital privacy and surveillance.

“Good luck in this case but I don’t know how I feel about them recording everything—I just don’t have access unless I pay,” one X user said in reaction to Stelter’s post.

“CNN highlights today’s Big Tech surveillance state instead of framing it as a massive invasion of privacy,” WRITES another.

Google did not immediately respond luckThis is a request for comment.

Nesting, subscriptions, and privacy

The video released by investigators shows a Nest logo. That’s Google’s $150 home camera kit. A customer who doesn’t pay for a subscription can see real-time footage and movement alerts at their door. Paying a premium subscription of $10 to $20 a month means videos can be saved and accessed later.

An internet-enabled Nest doorbell, which sells for about $150, can record video and alert homeowners to sounds and movements at their doors. Owners can pay a monthly subscription to get premium features, such as long video history. However, The New York Times reported comments by Chris Nanos, Pima County Sheriff, that Ms. Guthrie did not pay for a subscription to store the video, suggesting that he can only access real-time video, while historical footage is likely stored on a server somewhere in a vast Google data center.

Ring, the doorbell camera company owned by AmazonTHERE building an evolving system which allows police to see posts on its Neighbors app and request user video footage. By 2023, more than 2,600 police departments will have some kind of formal partnership with Ring, allowing them to use these in-app tools and access a dashboard tied to Neighbors.

It is drawing continuous criticism from civil-liberties and tech-advocacy groups as a form of warrantless, networked surveillance that encourages over-policing and bias. Some groups recommend that, if people insist on using a doorbell camera, they disable law enforcement integration features and avoid cloud storage if possible to minimize the risk of secondary use or forced disclosure.

In a blog post in 2024, Ring said it will introduce a device that allows law enforcement to request door camera footage. It reversed the 2025 decision, announced a partnership with Axona law enforcement tech company. Under the new setup, police will be able to question Ring owners for relevant clips through Axon’s digital evidence system, and Ring is explore an opt-in feature which may allow users to livestream camera footage directly to law enforcement. Returning Ring founder Jamie Siminoff frames it as a strengthening relationship between “neighbors” and public safety agencies.

Nancy Guthrie’s case underscores growing concern over how much control Nest‑ and Ring‑style devices are giving both tech companies and law enforcement over intimate footage from people’s homes. Connected doorbells may help solve serious crimes, but they can also create constant, cloud-stored records of home life governed by unclear retention policies, loophole-filled data sharing rules, and public attitudes that can be “too comfortable” with widespread surveillance from public streets to private homes.