Good afternoon. Today's PM — edited by Justin Green — is 515 words, a 2 minute read.
Situational awareness: Iran reportedly seizes two U.K.-linked tankers in Strait of Hormuz. Go deeper.
1 big thing: The surveillance camera next door

Get ready for a debate over the role of private security cameras, particularly the doorbell cameras used in services like Ring and Nest, owned by Amazon and Google, respectively.
- Law enforcement and cities actively subsidize Ring cameras, in exchange for potential access to the footage, the AP reports.
- And some departments use Ring’s Neighbors app, which encourages residents to share videos of suspicious activity.
- Law enforcement describe the footage as a digital neighborhood watch.
Why it matters: The reason for cameras is understandable. Packages get stolen off doorsteps and suspicious people might come to your door — or you just want to remotely let in a guest or service worker.
The big picture: The increasing worry is that the cameras will turn neighborhoods into places of constant surveillance — with the heaviest cost imposed on people of color.
- Law enforcement and Ring stress that sharing the content is voluntary, but its existence means a search warrant is always a possibility.
The bottom line: "Tech that seems like an obvious good can develop darker dimensions as capabilities improve and data shifts into new hands," WashPost's Geoffrey Fowler wrote earlier this year.
- "A terms-of-service update, a face-recognition upgrade or a hack could turn your doorbell into a privacy invasion you didn’t see coming."
Bonus: Pic du jour

A man scaled several floors down the side of a 19-story building in Philadelphia yesterday in order to avoid a fire, the AP reports.
- 4 residents and 3 police officers were injured.
- The man who scaled down didn't appear to be hurt.
2. What you missed
- A D.C. federal judge upheld the Trump administration's expansion of insurance plans that don't comply with the Affordable Care Act. The big picture.
- Mueller witness George Nader was charged in a Virginia federal court with sex trafficking, child pornography and obscenity, per The Daily Beast.
- Tesla is beginning to behave like the Detroit Three carmakers during their most desperate days, says Axios' Joann Muller.
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren is proposing a bill that would kill much of the leveraged buyout industry, notes Axios' Dan Primack.
- New York's heat emergency caused the city to cancel OZY Fest, the celebrity- and pol-studded festival on the Great Lawn of Central Park, as well as a Times Square commemoration of the moon landing. OZY CEO Carlos Watson told me he had expected nearly 100,000 people; full refunds will be made. "We’re so disappointed, but this was out of our control," he said. "We’ll be back next year."
3. 1 King thing
Disney's circle of recycled content continues with a Lion King remake that fails to roar despite — or maybe because of — its incredible photo-realism, writes Flipboard's Mia Quagliarello.
- "The result plays like a Hollywood blockbuster disguised as a National Geographic documentary, or perhaps the world's most expensive safari-themed karaoke video." [NPR]
- CGI wizardry and Beyoncé-powered soundtrack aside, the new Lion King is nearly identical to the 1994 classic in terms of its plot and trimmings.
The bottom line: The technical virtuosity doesn't always work in the movie's favor, writes Vox, "since it creates a jarring disconnect in which hyper-realistic lions sing like Beyoncé."
- But with an 89% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, fans can clearly work with it.
For more pop culture news and reviews, check out Flipboard's The Culturist.