The FBI’s publication of videos from Nancy Guthrie’s Google Nest doorbell camera has reinvigorated questions that have dogged big tech companies as they have become a larger part of people’s daily lives: How much data are these devices collecting?

If you don’t pay anything, Google only saves three hours of event history. After that, the videos are deleted, at least as far as the user is concerned. Newer Nest cameras have limited local storage that can cache clips for a few hours in case connectivity drops out,

The tragic story of Nancy Guthrie’s abduction reveals a hard truth about the promises made by tech companies about your data.

This is an easy way to get better connectivity throughout larger homes or in bigger areas.

These developments have many wondering what a smart security camera or doorbell does, who has access to the video they take — and what homeowners can do to secure their own data.

It was assumed any video taken by the Nest doorbell would not be able to be recovered. As a free user, Guthrie's videos were only stored locally for up to three hours, and would not backed up online. So, it was thought that Google would not be able to recover the videos, as it had never really had them in the first place.

Google's latest Nest Cam Indoor model from 2025 is still sitting at its lowest price ever of $74.99, which means you save $25 if you pick it up while the