US EditionAmazon Ring Cancels Flock Safety Partnership After Super Bowl Backlash
Ring canceled its planned Flock Safety integration after privacy backlash over a Super Bowl ad; no customer videos were shared, the company said.
- Amazon's Ring terminated its planned partnership with Flock Safety after a review found the integration would require significantly more time and resources, with no customer videos sent to Flock.
- A 30-second Super Bowl ad showing a lost dog prompted fears of dystopian surveillance, sparking social media criticism of Ring's Search Party feature and calls from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Sen. Edward Markey to limit 'Familiar Faces' biometric technology.
- Ring and Flock had planned last year to integrate via Community Requests, allowing police departments to request footage from Ring camera owners, but Flock said it never received videos and customers own the data.
- The decision immediately raises questions about trust in home surveillance as the cancellation highlights privacy concerns and Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts boosts scrutiny of 'Familiar Faces' biometric technology.
- Flock operates cameras in thousands of U.S. communities, and reports say ICE has used its license-plate database; the company paused pilot programs with CBP and HSI last year, maintaining it does not partner directly with ICE.
241 Articles
241 Articles
Ring Scraps Flock Security Partnership Following Uproar Over Super Bowl AI Commercial
Ring, the doorbell and security systems company owned by Amazon, announced last week it was canceling its partnership with surveillance company Flock Security following immense backlash to a Super Bowl commercial touting its artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The integration with Flock was first announced in October. Ring released a statement on February 12 stating that the planned… Source
Ring cancels Flock Safety deal, but Jake still uneasy
Ring canceled its Flock Safety deal, which would have allowed agencies working with Flock to retrieve videos from Ring devices, according to the BBC. But KIRO host Jake Skorheim is still worried about the bigger surveillance picture. “When I leave my house in the morning, just to get to work, there are three or four houses I have to drive by before I get onto a main street. I must pass six cameras, absolutely, which means that every single momen…
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