Amazon Cancels Ring Partnership with Flock

Amazon has announced it has cancelled its previous plans to partner with Flock for its Community Requests feature.

The announcement comes amid backlash for Amazon’s Search Party for Dogs feature that “alerts nearby participating outdoor Ring cameras to help look for your lost dog.”

Amazon played an ad for it during the Super Bowl, prompting the widespread privacy concerns.

Their announced Flock partnership wasn’t related to Search Party, however. The Community Requests feature that allows police to send out requests to Ring owners so they can voluntarily send videos to the police.

Amazon says that the sharing is completely optional and Ring users are in full control over their data being shared:

You have complete control over whether to respond to a Community Request and what you share. Every Community Request is publicly posted and searchable for complete transparency and auditability.

While it’s great that the sharing is optional for users, everyone that the camera is pointed at didn’t consent to be filmed and have footage of them sent to law enforcement.

It’s worth noting that, while Ring supports optional end-to-end encryption, non-encrypted data could be accessed by Ring itself and end up in the hands of law enforcement or attackers that manage to infiltrate Ring’s infrastructure. Ring state that they won’t give out user data unless required by law:

Ring does not disclose user information in response to government demands (i.e., legally valid and binding requests for information from law enforcement agencies such as search warrants, subpoenas and court orders) unless we're required to comply and it is properly served on us.

Ring’s stated reason for cancelling the partnership has nothing to do with the privacy backlash, though. They claim the partnership “would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated.” According to them, “no Ring customer videos were ever sent to Flock Safety.“

With massive security flaws found in Flock Safety cameras allowing attackers to completely take them over and massive abuses caused by the company, you have to wonder why Amazon even wanted to partner with such an incompetent operation.

Despite announcing a cancellation, Ring still holds that the massive surveillance apparatus they’ve enabled is a good thing.

When a shooting occurred near Brown University in December 2025, every second mattered. The Providence Police Department turned to their community for help, putting out a Community Request. Within hours, 7 neighbors responded, sharing 168 videos that captured critical moments from the incident. One video identified a new key witness, helping lead police to identify the suspect's vehicle and solve the case. With a shooter at large, the community faced uncertainty about their safety. Neighbors who chose to share footage played a crucial role in neutralizing the threat and restoring safety to their community.

Despite the cancelled partnership with Flock, Ring’s original Community Requests feature still exists via their partnership with Axon, a similar company to Flock that provides surveillance tech to police.