Amazon’s Ring cancels Flock partnership amid Super Bowl ad backlash

Ring is ending its partnership with police technology provider Flock Safety Amazoncompany owned announced Thursday.

The partnership between Flock and Ring has come under scrutiny after the Amazon doorbell company released an ad during the Super Bowl promoting a “Search Party” feature that uses artificial intelligence to help find lost pets. Electronic Frontier Foundation he called this feature a “surveillance nightmare.”

Flock, meanwhile, operates a network of automatic license plate readers and sells access to that software to customers, including law enforcement agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

Ring’s decision to cancel its partnership with Flock comes as tech companies face increasing pressure to re-examine their work with federal agencies. Earlier this week, Salesforce employees pressured CEO Marc Benioff to cancel “ICE opportunities,” CNBC reported. More than 900 Google employees also asked their company to pull him from ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Privacy and civil liberties advocates in the name Ring is expected to end its partnership with Flock. A protest calling on the e-commerce company to cut ties with Flock, ICE and CBP is planned outside Amazon’s Seattle headquarters on Friday.

“After a thorough review, we determined that the planned Herd Safety integration will require significantly more time and resources than expected,” Ring wrote in a blog post. “As a result, we have made the mutual decision to cancel the planned integration.”

Herd representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Amazon acquired Ring for $839 million in 2018. The home security company is known primarily for its connected doorbell devices that can record images and alert users to activity in their home or workplace through an app.

Ring has long been a source of controversy regarding privacy. partnership with police. In recent years, the company has adopted a softer image, positioning its devices as a tool for catching porch pirates and family-friendly pranks. After founder Jamie Siminoff returned as CEO last year, the company re-embraced its original mission of fighting crime.

amazon company announced Its partnership with Flock, launched last October, gives video doorbell owners the option to share footage with law enforcement, which uses the startup’s software to assist in “evidence collection and investigative efforts.”

Flock’s systems have been adopted by thousands of communities and law enforcement agencies across the country, and both ICE and CBP have adopted them. increasingly accessible Flock’s data is part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigrants.

Ring spokesperson Emma Daniels said in a statement that the Flock partnership was never active and the companies did not announce a date for its implementation.

“No video was shared between these services,” Daniels said.

The news was reported by me before. threshold.