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Ring, the Amazon-owned home security company, announced<\/a> on Thursday that it will no longer partner with Flock Safety<\/a>, a maker of AI-powered surveillance cameras that share footage with law enforcement.<\/p>\n The two companies announced a deal<\/a> in October that would have allowed Ring doorbell users to share footage with Flock and its network of public safety agencies to assist with \u201cevidence collection and investigative work.\u201d As reported by 404 Media<\/a>, Flock\u2019s footage has been used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Secret Service, and the Navy, which all have had access to Flock\u2019s tens of thousands of AI-enabled cameras. (Flock maintains that it does not explicitly<\/a> work with ICE.)<\/p>\n Ring wrote in a blog post<\/a> that it made a joint decision with Flock to cancel the partnership because the integration would \u201crequire significantly more time and resources than anticipated.\u201d<\/p>\n This news comes less than a week after Ring\u2019s Super Bowl ad<\/a> aired, which showed how its AI-powered Search Party feature could use a network of neighborhood cameras to find lost dogs. The ad stoked controversy<\/a> from viewers who worried that this technology could be leveraged against humans.<\/p>\n A Ring spokesperson has stated<\/a> that this technology is \u201cnot capable of processing human biometrics.\u201d<\/p>\n But this technology is not dissimilar from that of Flock. Using footage from Flock cameras, Flock\u2019s government and police partners can make natural language searches of their video footage to find people who match specific descriptions. When this AI-powered technology is used by law enforcement, it has been shown to\u00a0exacerbate<\/a>\u00a0racial biases<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ring even rolled out a facial recognition<\/a> feature in December called \u201cFamiliar Faces,\u201d which allows users to catalog the faces of people who often visit their homes \u2014 that way, they might get a notification that says \u201cMom at Front Door,\u201d rather than \u201ca person is at your door.\u201d<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston, MA<\/span> This technology is being marketed to consumers during a time in the United States<\/a> when people are especially cognizant of the dangers of mass surveillance. ICE uses this same type of facial recognition technology<\/a>, powered by companies like Clearview AI, to locate people in its mass deportation efforts<\/a>.<\/p>\n Though its partnership with Flock won\u2019t come to fruition, Ring has existing measures<\/a> that enable users to share footage with law enforcement if they so choose. The company accomplishes this in part through a partnership<\/a> with Axon, a company similar to Flock.<\/p>\n Ring has also historically had trouble<\/a> keeping customers\u2019 videos\u00a0safe<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0secure<\/a>. In 2023, the FTC ordered the company to pay $5.8 million over claims that employees and contractors had unrestricted access to customers\u2019 videos for years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJune 23, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n