Amazon Key Aims To Guard Against Porch Pirates, But Skeptics Raise Privacy Concerns

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — As the holiday season approaches, you might be worried about packages being stolen from your front door.

But online giant Amazon has a solution, and is testing it in the Los Angeles-area.

The program called Amazon Key is a two-part service involving a security camera that monitors the front door, and a compatible door lock.

Here's how it works:

An Amazon courier can unlock a customer's door using a smartphone to drop off a package, and the camera keeps constant watch of the front door.

Dana Dickey is part of a test program in nearly three dozen cities for Amazon Key.

"Porch pirates are a consideration when you're having a delivery," she said. "If I'm working a 12-hour day, sometime in the middle of the day, it gets delivered, a package, I don't know if someone is going to come by and take it."

But the new delivery service has been met with a lot of skepticism on social media since its introduction two weeks ago.

"I'm a big amazon user. Don't get me wrong, but the whole thing about them getting access to people homes is a little bit excessive," said Jordan Stevenson, an Amazon customer.

Amazon recently introduced its pick-up lockers at 7-Eleven and Whole Foods stores to help prevent package theft, which has been on the rise.

Just last week, the Covina Police Department posted video to Twitter after a man accused of swiping some packages, something Dickey says Amazon Key would've have prevented.