Ring is terminating its partnership with police tech provider Flock Safety, the Amazon-owned company announced Thursday.
The partnership between Flock and Ring came under scrutiny after the Amazon doorbell company ran an ad during the Super Bowl that touted a “Search Party” feature that uses AI to help locate lost pets. When a user initiates the feature, it activates a network of participating Ring cameras, which scan footage for images resembling the missing dog. The Electronic Frontier Foundation called the feature a “surveillance nightmare.”
Flock, meanwhile, operates a network of automated license plate readers, and sells access to that software to customers that include law enforcement agencies.
Ring’s decision to cancel its partnership with Flock comes as tech companies face growing pressure to reexamine their work with federal agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Earlier this week, Salesforce employees pressed CEO Marc Benioff to cancel “ICE opportunities,” CNBC reported. More than 900 Google employees also asked their company to divest itself from ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
