NEW YORK
Amazon’s home security subsidiary, Ring, has scrapped a planned partnership with Flock Safety, a company that provides automated license plate reader technology to law enforcement, the companies announced Friday.
The termination follows a wave of public backlash triggered by a Ring ad that aired during the Super Bowl, though the companies insist the decision was mutual and unrelated to the commercial.
The 30-second spot, which depicted a lost dog being found through a network of Ring cameras, sparked fears among privacy advocates of a dystopian surveillance society. However, the feature highlighted in the ad, called “Search Party,” is a separate consumer tool and was not connected to the now-defunct partnership with Flock.
Ring and Flock had announced plans last year to integrate their services, which would have allowed Ring camera owners to voluntarily share video footage in response to law enforcement requests made through Ring’s “Community Requests” feature.
In a statement, Ring said the integration was shelved after an internal review.
“Following a comprehensive review, we determined the planned Flock Safety integration would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated,” the company said. “The integration never launched, so no Ring customer videos were ever sent to Flock Safety.”
Flock Safety, which provides law enforcement with AI-powered cameras and license plate readers, confirmed that it never received any Ring customer data.
The company echoed Ring’s characterization of the split as a mutual decision, allowing both businesses to “best serve their respective customers.”
In its own statement, Flock added that it “remains dedicated to supporting law enforcement agencies with tools that are fully configurable to local laws and policies.”
The terminated partnership marks a rare retreat for Ring, which has long faced criticism from privacy advocates over its close relationships with police departments and its vast network of user-owned cameras.
By James Kisoo
