Amazon’s Ring Cancels Surveillance Partnership After Privacy Backlash

Amazon’s smart doorbell subsidiary Ring has ended a planned partnership with U.S. surveillance firm Flock Safety, following mounting criticism over privacy and surveillance concerns.

The agreement, announced in October, would have enabled law enforcement agencies using Flock’s camera network to request access to video footage captured by Ring devices, provided customers gave permission. The collaboration never became operational, and Ring said no customer footage was ever shared with Flock.

In a statement announcing the decision, Ring said it determined that moving forward with the partnership would have required “significantly more time and resources than anticipated.” The company added that the planned system integration was never launched.

Flock Safety confirmed the cancellation, describing it as a mutual decision. A spokesperson said both companies agreed the move would allow them to better serve their respective customers and communities.

Super Bowl Advertisement Intensifies Scrutiny

The reversal comes just days after Ring faced renewed public backlash over a Super Bowl advertisement promoting a new feature called “Search Party.” The commercial depicted neighbors using Ring-connected tools to collaboratively locate a missing dog – a scenario critics argued framed mass surveillance as community safety.

Privacy advocates and lawmakers quickly condemned the ad as unsettling. Ed Markey, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, urged Amazon to roll back Ring’s monitoring features, warning of what he described as a growing “creepy surveillance state.”

The criticism echoed long-standing concerns about Ring’s privacy practices, particularly following heightened immigration enforcement efforts under Donald Trump, which raised fears about how surveillance tools could be used by authorities.

Civil Liberties Groups And Rivals Respond

The Electronic Frontier Foundation also weighed in, arguing that the advertisement masked the broader implications of the technology. The group warned that consumer devices could eventually be used for widespread identification and tracking of people and animals alike.

The controversy spilled onto social media and into competitive marketing. Wyze, a rival smart home brand, released a parody video mocking Ring’s ad. In the clip, Wyze co-founder Dave Crosby sarcastically notes that the technology could theoretically locate anyone, while insisting it is used only to find lost pets. The video quickly gained traction online.

Ongoing Questions Around Surveillance Technology

Ring, which Amazon acquired in 2018, has repeatedly defended its products as tools for home security rather than surveillance. Still, the abandoned partnership and reaction to the Super Bowl campaign underscore the sensitivity surrounding consumer surveillance technology and its relationship with law enforcement.

While Ring says the Flock integration never went live, the episode has renewed debate over how far smart home companies should go in connecting private devices with public safety systems – and where consumers expect the line to be drawn.