Ring, the home security company owned by Amazon, was announced on Thursday that it will no longer work with Flock Safety, a maker of artificial intelligence surveillance cameras that share footage with law enforcement.
The two companies announced an agreement in October that would allow Ring users to share footage with Flock and its network of public safety agencies to help with “evidence gathering and investigative work.” As reported by 404 MediaFlock’s footage has been used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Secret Service, and the Navy, which have accessed Flock’s tens of thousands of AI-enabled cameras. (Flock argues that it does not explicitly cooperate with ICE.)
Ring wrote in a blog post that it made a joint decision with Flock to cancel the partnership because the integration “would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated.”
This news comes less than a week later Ring’s Super Bowl ad was shown, which showed how the AI-powered Search Party feature could use a network of neighborhood cameras to find lost dogs. The advertisement sparked controversy by viewers who were concerned that this technology could be used against humans.
A Ring representative has declare yourself that this technology is “not capable of processing human biometrics”.
But this technology is not unlike that of Flock. Using footage from Flock cameras, Flock’s government and law enforcement partners can perform natural language searches on their footage to find people matching specific descriptions. When this AI-based technology is used by law enforcement, it has been proven that chafe racial prejudices.
Ring even launched a facial recognition feature in December called “Familiar Faces,” which lets users capture the faces of people who frequent their homes — that way, they might get a notification that says “Mom at Front Door” instead of “a person is at your door.”
Techcrunch event
Boston, MA
|
June 23, 2026
This technology is being marketed to consumers during an era in the United States where people are acutely aware of the dangers of mass surveillance. ICE uses this same type of facial recognition technology, backed by companies like Clearview AI, to identify people in mass deportation efforts.
While her partnership with Flock won’t come to fruition, Ring has existing measures which allows users to share material with law enforcement if they wish. The company accomplishes this in part through a partnership with Axon, a company similar to Flock.
Ring has also historically had issues with the safety and security of customer videos. In 2023, the FTC ordered the company to pay $5.8 million over allegations that employees and contractors had unrestricted access to customer videos for years.
