Ring terminates partnership with Flock over growing surveillance fears

Ring Cancels Partnership with Flock Safety Amid Privacy Concerns

Amazon-owned Ring has recently announced the cancellation of its planned partnership with Flock Safety, a license-plate-recognition company. This decision comes in light of increasing scrutiny regarding the potential misuse of home security cameras for neighborhood monitoring and law enforcement purposes.

In a statement released on Thursday, Ring revealed that both companies mutually agreed to terminate the planned integration, citing the need for more time and resources than initially anticipated. It was clarified that the integration never went live, and no customer videos were shared as a result.

This move follows the backlash Ring faced over its Super Bowl ad promoting the AI-powered Search Party feature designed to locate lost dogs. Critics expressed concerns about the potential surveillance implications of such a tool, despite Ring’s assurances that users have full control over sharing footage.

Although the Flock partnership was not directly linked to the Search Party feature, it was highlighted in media coverage as evidence of Ring’s broader collaborations with law enforcement agencies.

The partnership, announced in October, aimed to enable local law enforcement agencies utilizing Flock’s platforms to request footage directly through Ring’s Neighbors app during active investigations. Ring users would then have the option to share video footage or disregard the request.

Flock’s technology is widely used by numerous police departments, raising concerns from civil liberties groups, including the ACLU, about potential access to footage by federal agencies.

Ring has affirmed that it has no partnership with ICE and does not share video footage with the agency. The company’s Community Requests feature, allowing law enforcement to request footage from nearby Ring users during investigations, remains operational, with participation being voluntary.

Meanwhile, Nest, a home security company owned by Google, has also come under scrutiny in the Nancy Guthrie disappearance case, where investigators recovered video from a Nest doorbell camera without an active subscription, with Google’s assistance.

Ring founder Jamie Siminoff emphasized in an interview with CBS News that Ring’s system ensures video data does not exist for users without a subscription, distinguishing its approach from the Guthrie case. He highlighted the privacy-protected nature of Community Requests, which have aided investigations, including a shooting near Brown University.

Siminoff defended the Search Party feature, emphasizing its privacy-centric design and likening it to finding a lost dog in one’s backyard. He hinted at future features for locating lost cats.