Amazon’s Ring is canceling its partnership with Flock, a network of AI cameras used by the Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement and police.

Ring, the home security company owned by Amazon, Announce on Thursday that he would no longer be a partner with him Herd safetymaker of AI-powered surveillance cameras that share footage with law enforcement.

The two companies announced deal in October, which would have allowed Ring Doorbell users to share footage with Flock and its network of public safety agencies to help with “evidence collection and investigative work.” As reported 404 mediaFluke footage has been used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Secret Service, and the Navy, all of which have access to tens of thousands of Fluke AI-powered cameras. (Flock confirms that No, frankly Working with ice.)

Ring wrote in a blog post that it made a joint decision with Flock to cancel the partnership because the integration “would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated.”

This news comes less than a week later Ring ad for the Super Bowl was broadcast, which showed how the AI-powered Search Party feature could use a network of neighborhood cameras to find missing dogs. Advertisement It sparked controversy From viewers who expressed concern that this technology could be used against humans.

Ring spokesperson male This technology is “incapable of processing human biometrics.”

But this technology is no different from Fluke technology. Using footage from Fluke cameras, Fluke government and police partners can perform natural language searches on their video footage to find people who match specific descriptions. When this AI-powered technology is used by law enforcement, it has been proven Aggravation Racial biases.

The episode was even thrown Face recognition A feature in December called “Familiar Faces,” which lets users catalog the faces of people who visit their homes often — that way, they might receive a notification that says “Mom’s at the front door,” instead of “There’s someone at your door.”

This technology is marketed to consumers During a period in the United States When people are particularly aware of the dangers of mass surveillance. ICE uses the same type of Facial recognition technologypowered by companies like Clearview AI, to locate people in Mass deportation efforts.

Although its partnership with Flock wouldn’t come to fruition, Ring did Existing measures Which enables users to share footage with law enforcement if they choose. The company achieves this in part by a partnership With Axon, a company similar to Flock.

The episode was also historic problem Save customer videos security and He believes. In 2023, the Federal Trade Commission ordered the company to pay $5.8 million over allegations that employees and contractors had unfettered access to customers’ private videos for years.