Amazon Ring ends partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash
Amazon's security brand, Ring, has announced that it is ending its partnership with security company Flock Safety. Since announcing the partnership in October 2025, Ring has faced backlash from those opposed to the surveillance society.
Ring and Flock Cancel Partnership - The Ring Blog
Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash | The Verge
Flock Safety is a major security company that provides license plate tracking systems and other services. While the company claims to provide crime prevention services, some citizens have criticized the company for strengthening surveillance. In recent years, the company has faced public outrage, along with backlash against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), after reports emerged that the company had given ICE access to its surveillance cameras.
The CEO of Flock Safety, a comprehensive security solutions company, accuses Deflock, which identifies the location of surveillance cameras, of being a 'terrorist organization' - GIGAZINE
Ring announced a partnership with Flock Safety for its 'Community Request' process. Community Request is a process that supports investigative activities, allowing users to voluntarily provide anonymized information when public safety agencies request information about a crime. By partnering with Flock Safety, Ring hopes to quickly provide Community Request to agencies already using Flock Safety's system.
However, Flock Safety's partnership with Ring prompted some radical Ring users to pledge to throw away their Ring devices and urge others to destroy them. Concerns also arose that Ring might share video footage with Flock Safety, and Flock Safety might share it with ICE. Ring issued a statement, stating, 'We are not affiliated with ICE, do not provide ICE with access to our video feeds or backend, and do not share video.'
Following the backlash, Ring announced its decision to end its partnership with Flock Safety in February 2026. 'After a comprehensive review, we have determined that integrating with Flock Safety will require significantly more time and resources than originally anticipated. As such, the two companies have consulted and decided to discontinue the planned integration,' Ring said.
Regarding the initial concern that video footage might already be shared with Flock Safety, the company clarified that 'because this integration hadn't even started yet, no Ring video was ever sent to Flock Safety.'
Ring explained, 'Community Request remains a core feature of Ring's mission. In response to a request for assistance in an investigation, Ring camera owners can choose whether to share their video with local law enforcement, but they can also choose to decline the request. Participation is always voluntary. In fact, we've seen this feature used to bring neighbors together in emergencies. After a shooting near Brown University in December 2025, police issued a Community Request request. Within hours, seven residents responded and shared 168 videos capturing key moments of the incident. One of those videos led to the identification of a key witness, helping police identify the suspect's vehicle and solve the case. With the shooter on the run, the community faced concerns about their safety. Residents who chose to share their footage played a critical role in eliminating the threat and restoring safety to their neighborhoods. We will continue to build tools that enable neighbors to help each other while maintaining strong privacy protections and transparency about our features. We will also carefully evaluate future partnerships to ensure they meet our customers' standards for trust, safety, and privacy.'
Related Posts:
in Note, Posted by log1p_kr