Ring’s Flock breakup doesn’t fix its real problem

The most striking thing about Ring’s statement that it had parted ways with Flock Safety is what the home security company didn’t say. There was no mention of the public backlash around ties to ICE, or any promise to address users’ concerns about the company’s relationships with law enforcement.

In an increasingly authoritarian political climate, the threat of mass surveillance fueled by AI-powered cameras is what many people fear. Yet Ring’s statement made no attempt to address this. Instead, the company claims it canceled Flock’s integration with its Community Requests tool because it would “require significantly more time and resources than anticipated.”

It’s clear to everyone that the Amazon-owned company caved to public pressure. Sentiment across social media and news outlets following the airing of Ring’s Search Party Super Bowl ad skewed almost 50 percent negative, according to research by Peakmetrics. People are not happy with the company, and the move was an obvious attempt to claw back some goodwill.

The backdown must have been particularly galling for founder and VP Jamie Siminoff, who has consistently maintained that Ring’s products are designed to help prevent and fight crime.

This is not a new approach for the company. While public opinion on law enforcement has shifted significantly since his departure from Ring in 2023 and his return last year, Siminoff still strongly believes that the combination of AI, cameras, and police can make neighborhoods safer.

While Ring has parted ways with Flock, its Community Requests tool hasn’t changed. It’s still very much active, thanks to a partnership with Axon, a similar law-enforcement technology company best known for making Tasers.

Community Requests was introduced by Siminoff upon his return, following his predecessor’s canning of Ring’s first controversial police-request tool. It allows authorized local law enforcement agencies to request video footage from residents near an active investigation without a warrant. That footage then goes through Axon’s evidence management system. Responding to a request is optional, and Ring maintains that your privacy is always protected and that footage is never sent automatically.

Ring is currently touting how the tool is being used in the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapping, and the company says it was instrumental in tracking down the suspect in the Brown University shooting.

Canceling the Flock integration doesn’t change Community Requests; it just pauses the expansion. If Ring had gone through with it, the program could have reached the 5,000 local law enforcement agencies that work with Flock. Instead, it’s now limited to those that work with Axon, an integration that Ring says is continuing.

Ring maintains that no federal agencies, including ICE, can use Community Requests to ask for footage from Ring users. But critics say that in jurisdictions where local police act under a 287(g) agreement, ICE could gain access to their resources, including video footage.

This is exactly what Flock was criticized for. As reported by 404 Media, 287(g) agreements with local agencies gave ICE “side-door access” to Flock’s automated license plate reader system — a nationwide network of AI-powered surveillance cameras.

While Flock has run pilot programs with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which houses ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), it claims it has no DHS contracts. Axon has many.

From Tasers to surveillance systems

Axon has turned Tasers into a billion-dollar business and now makes body and vehicle cameras and software platforms used by law enforcement agencies. According to public records, Axon has been awarded more than 70 contracts with the DHS for its equipment and software, totaling more than $96 million between 2003 and 2024.

Along with Axon Evidence, Axon also operates Fusus, a cloud-based platform it purchased in 2024 that can pull together real-time data from cameras, sensors, drones, and community feeds, “turning disparate assets into a shared intelligence network for faster, coordinated response.” On its website, Axon is actively marketing the software as a tool for CBP.

In 2023, Fusus was reportedly capable of integrating real-time data from private cameras, although it required additional hardware and a fee. The platform’s capabilities sound a lot like the foundations of a dystopian neighborhood surveillance system that Ring’s Super Bowl ad sparked fears of.

If Ring ditched Flock because of its ICE ties, it would make sense to ditch Axon, too. But that’s not the move the company is making.

Ring’s vast infrastructure is already in place, with millions of AI-powered cameras on porches and in homes across the country, and its tool that connects users’ footage with law enforcement relies on a company with direct ties to DHS.

If Ring wants to regain users’ trust, it can’t just vaguely point to a partnership canceled due to “resources.” It needs to acknowledge these concerns openly and clearly define how far it’s willing to take this powerful technology, and — more importantly — where it will draw the line.